ice flower
by gemire7
Summary: Mikan is the cool and intelligent student council president of her school. one day a certain transfer student with crimson eyes squirms his way into her life.why does it seem as if he is everywhere she goes? rated T just in case :  N&M R&H
1. Prologue

Prologue

A little girl with her chestnut hair in pigtails wandered around softly crying. She was wearing an expensive looking summer dress of the softest pink. Suddenly she tripped on a tree root and fell face first. She sat up and started crying loudly continuously repeating the word "Mama".

A little boy with hair the darkest shade of black was sitting underneath a tree with an even smaller girl with the same hair. They were both dressed in clothes that had seen better times. Their matching crimson eyes looked at each other when they heard the little girl crying loudly.

"Brother", the raven haired girl said, "Why don't we go see what's wrong? We might be able to help her, right?"

Fondly looking at his younger sister, the boy said, "There you go again, always wanting to help other people. If that's what you want, then let's go and see what we can do."

The little girl smiled happily up at her older brother. They got up from under the tree and slowly walked towards the girl who was still sobbing on the ground.

"Hey you. Why are you crying? Are you hurt?" asked the little boy.

"N-no. I-I can't find my house," sobbed the girl.

"Tell us what your house looks like, then we might be able to help you." the raven haired girl softly said. "We know almost all the houses around here."

The girl looked up hopefully drying her tears with the bottom of her dress, "Really? You can help me?"

"Sure, sure. Of course we can." the boy said boastfully. "We've explored every single possible place in this area... We had to... that's because we've got no where to go.", he ended off quietly.

The girl looked at the two siblings and realized that they were indeed very dirty. However, she looked at them curiously instead of being disgusted. "Do you know a house with two towers? It is made of brick and has ivy climbing up the walls. The garden has trees as big as the ones over there." she said pointing to the tree that the siblings had been sitting under just a while ago.

The sister looked at her with eyes full of wonder. "Are you really the girl that lives in that mansion?"

"Yes" she replied, "but we're moving soon. I wanted to explore outside before leaving, but I got lost."

"We know where that house is, we'll take you there." the boy said confidently.

"Thank you" the little girl said.

The brother and sister walked on either side of the little girl. They talked of how they had been orphans for a year already. The older brother had been taking care of both of them ever since he had turned 7 years old. Their parents had died in a plane accident and they didn't have any other relatives to go to. Since they didn't want to stay at an orphanage, they had run away. They might have gone on empty stomachs a few times, but it was better than being caged.

The little girl looked at the boy with admiration. She had never even tried to go out of the walls surrounding her house until now. She doesn't know why, but she suddenly put a hand into each of the sibling's hands. Now they were all linked together.

"Well, you're not alone anymore. You know me!" she said with a wide smile.

The raven haired siblings couldn't help but to smile back at her.

"Why'd we stop?" the little girl asked.

Pointing towards a young woman walking around aimlessly outside a big house surrounded by a wall, he said, "Isn't that your mom looking for you?"

The little girl ran towards the woman shouting "Mama!"

The siblings looked on sadly and the reunion of mother and daughter, they were remembering the times when their mother was still alive to greet them at their house. They began to walk back without saying goodbye, but stopped when they heard the little girl shout, "Wait!"

She ran towards them and put something in each of their hands. She said, "These are my treasures, will you keep them for me until we meet again? And I only have a little, but here. Use this money" she said handing them $50.

She hugged each of them goodbye and ran back towards her house where her mother was waiting inside the gates. She turned one more time and waved goodbye before disappearing behind the wooden gates.

The siblings waved goodbye until the gate was completely shut. Then they both looked into their hands. "What did you get brother?" asked the little girl. "Let's show them at the same time."

They each held out there hands and on their palms they held identical silver rings with sakura petals engraved in to them.


	2. Chapter 1 who is she

sorry for the late update... i'll try to get the next one up as soon as possible :) so please R&R so that i can make the next chapter better than this one XD.

well, i won't keep you from reading any longer and as always...THANX 4 READING *.*

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Chapter1: Who is she?

Screams could be heard as a certain brunette walked in through the school gates. She was wearing the high school uniform of Gakuen Alice which consisted of the following: a dark brown checkered skirt that stopped a few inches above her knees, a slim fitting white blouse with a loosely tied black necktie, and lastly, black ankle boots. Although the uniform also consisted of a black jacket with red and golden trimmings, she did not wear it and simply hung it over her arm.

As the crowd of students around her got louder, she stopped and clapped her hands twice. The students then quieted down and all that remained was silence. She then smiled and said, "Good morning everyone."

"Good morning Mikan-sama" they chorused back."We love you!"

Mikan just coolly smiled and waved her hand, which caused the crowd to get louder. She then made her way towards the school doors and walked in. Silence enveloped her and as she made her way down the hallway, and the rest of the student council fell in line behind her.

They are: Hotaru Imai, the student council treasurer and vice president. Ruka Nogi, the information gatherer and also Hotaru's boyfriend. Anna and Nonoko, the twins in charge of keeping track of all the clubs in school. Yuu Tobita, Anna's boyfriend and the event planner. Koko, Nonoko's boyfriend and also Ruka's helper in getting information.

All of the students they passed stared at them in awe and said things such as, "Oh my gosh! Getting to see the student council right in the morning! I am going to be so lucky today!" and other nonsense.

The student council simply smiled at the silly students since they were already quite used to it. Suddenly as they were walking down the hallway, one brave girl came up to Mikan and said, "Mikan-sama. Won't you have these cookies I made? I got up early just to make it for you!"

As the girl looked down bashfully while handing the cookies to Mikan, other people that were watching whispered things like, "Who does she think she is? Why would Mikan-sama accept her cookies?" or "She's not pretty enough for Mikan-sama to even acknowledge her!"

When Mikan heard the students speaking ill about the girl, she looked around at them sternly while saying, "You should never say anything bad about your fellow students." With that, she took the cookies from the girl and smiled down gently at her. This caused the girl to blush and to almost faint, but Mikan caught her in her arms in time.

"I'll make sure to eat these later. Thank you." she said while letting the girl go with a charismatic smile. Every single person that was around looked at their president with eyes full of love.

While the students were still in a daze, the student council began to walk away. However, before they were able to make their get away, they could hear the students screaming Mikan's name once again.

"You're as popular as ever Mi-chan." said Anna while grinning.

"What are you talking about? I'm being the same as I always am. There's no reason that I'd suddenly turn popular." replied Mikan while acting as cool as she always did.

The others just sighed at her denseness and wondered how she could be a genius academically when she couldn't even understand what others thought about her. They then walked in to their class and sat down in their seats. The seats in the back had always been reserved just for them and before they could sit down, they had to pile all the presents and letters from their fans on to the floor. Hotaru sat beside Ruka, Anna beside Yuu, Nonoko beside Koko, and Mikan by herself in the last row.

As they talked among themselves about student council matters, the bell rang and their homeroom teacher walked in. Or should I say, he danced himself in while twirling. The students just shook their heads at his weird antics except for the student council.

"Okay class, we will now start by finishing writing the essays we started last week."

The essay writing went on until lunch time and the students sighed in relief as they made their way towards the cafeteria. The student body gazed at their student council and shouted the names of their favourite member. However, most of the shouts were still for Mikan.

The student council bought their lunches and made their way to their table. Some of their fans had even made a sign and decorated their table so that it stood out from all the other tables in the cafeteria.

While they began to eat, they continued to discuss about student council matters. They were talking about the upcoming cultural festival and other matters that they would need to plan out in order for the occasion to be a success.

When lunch was over, they went back to classes for Math and Science. Time quickly passed in the afternoon and school was over. People went to their individual clubs if they had joined one, and if not then they went home. The student council of course, went to their meeting room to continue discussing plans about the upcoming festival. While they were debating on whether to have a special event or not, a sudden notification over the intercom asked if the student council principal, Miss Mikan Sakura would please make her way to the office. Wondering what she could have possibly done, she quickly made her way towards the school office. Of course, she did not forget to nod coolly at all the students she passed causing them to automatically blush and smile back.

Mr. Narumi was waiting for her when she walked in and greeted her with a smile. She looked at him and coolly asked, "What do you need from me Mr. Narumi?"

"I was just hoping that you wouldn't mind showing a new student around tomorrow. He's going to be transferring here tomorrow and he'll be in your class. Since you don't have a partner yet, I thought that he could be your partner starting tomorrow." Mr. Narumi asked while looking a bit nervous.

"Of course. I've been waiting to have a partner for a long time now. However, he better be nice to all the other students" she calmly said.

Although Narumi stopped being nervous when Mikan accepted his request, he started to look uncomfortable at her last two questions. Mikan being dense to her surroundings as usual was not suspicious at all when he stuttered out a quick "yes".

Mikan then made her way back to the student council room and explained why she had been called down. The council then finished up everything for the day and made their way home.

When Mikan walked out of the school gates with Hotaru, her family's chauffeur was already there to pick her up. They both got into the car and silently made their way towards Mikan's house, or should I say, mansion?

As they drove in, the iron gates with intricate designs closed behind them with a clang. Sakura trees lined both sides of the road until they opened up into an area similar to a courtyard. In the centre was a big fountain where a single sakura tree sapling was growing on a small island in the middle. Water droplets shined like pearls as they fell, shrouding the small island like a veil in the process.

The limousine then stopped in front of the two front doors and a butler came to open the car door for both Mikan and Hotaru.

"Welcome back Mikan-sama. You too Hotaru-sama." said the butler while bowing and holding the car door open.

"Good to see you again Zakarie" replied Hotaru while getting out of the limo. Mikan followed suit and smiled coolly at Zakarie before walking in through the front doors that were currently being held open by two maids.

As the rest of the maids lined up to greet her together, Mikan stopped in the centre of the big room and smiled back coolly to their greeting. She then said, "Well, I don't want to keep you girls from your work so I'll get going to my room. If you don't mind, could you send up a few snacks with tea to my room?"

"Anything for you Mikan-sama" said the head maid and clapped her hands to remind the other maids to get back to work, instead of trying to fawn over their mistress. Mikan smiled at her maids fawning and walked up to her room on the second floor.

Mikan and Hotaru walked in to a living room like place that Mikan called the sitting room. In a normal house, the sitting room would have taken up a space equal to that of the whole bottom floor. The room was brightly lit by the large window with the curtains drawn back. There wasn't much furniture, but you could tell that they were expensive. There was also a door that led to her bedroom, (but we'll look inside later.) They conversed about random things until a maid came in with their snacks.

As soon as the maid left, Mikan went to the door and listened with her ear pressed against the door. When she couldn't hear the maid's footsteps anymore, she turned around to face Hotaru and her facial expression began to change. The cool, mostly emotionless look that she always wore seemed to melt away from her face until all that could be seen was a happy-go-lucky smile.

"Hotaruuuuuu!" she shouted and tried to hug her best friend. Sadly for her, Hotaru simply stood up and moved away from the sofa she had been sitting on, causing Mikan to crash into the sofa. "Hotaru you meanie! What was that for!" she said while pouting and letting tears fall like a little kid.

"*sigh* I still can't believe how childish you act when it's just the two of us. Why can't you just simply keep up the cool, charismatic personality that you show to everybody else? I prefer that you to this one." stated Hotaru while looking at Mikan unemotionally.

"Aww, but you're the only one that I can show my real self to! If I acted like this in front of anybody else, they would think that I had gone crazy. Anyways, I need to act like my 'other self' since I'm the student council president. No one would take me seriously if I acted like this you know." whined Mikan while pouting slightly.

Although Hotaru would never admit it, she felt special knowing that she was the only one that knew the true Mikan other than her parents. "Just remember Mikan to be careful around your new partner, I still haven't been able to find out anything about him."

"Okie dokie!" Mikan replied causing Hotaru to slightly frown and whack her on the head.

"I thought I told you to stop saying that! It makes you sound like a kindergartener when you're already a high school freshman." stated Hotaru while staring at the weeping Mikan holding her head. "Come on, let's go relax in your jacuzzi while doing our homework and then have some crab brains for dinner. I'll be sleeping in the usual room after that."

Mikan stopped crying and with a big smile she succeeded in hugging Hotaru this time. "Ok! Let's go swim." she shouted while dragging Hotaru along.


	3. Chapter 2: the tansfer student

Chapter 2: The Transfer Student

The Next Day...

After Mikan and Hotaru had finished their homework and eaten their dinner, they went to bed and slept until the next morning which is right now. Mikan's mask is back on and she is eating breakfast while waiting for Hotaru. If you're wondering what she is eating then just read the following: an omelet stuffed with cubes of ham, cheese and an assortment of different vegetables, 2 slices of wheat toast with strawberry jam on top, and a cup of freshly squeezed orange juice made from the fruits collected in one of the greenhouses out back. Now, back to what she's doing. As she was eating her breakfast, Mikan was calmly reading the newspaper. Since her maids are watching her with eyes full of respect, she's just reading the daily economic news section (even though we all know that she wants to read the comics ^.^).

As she was finishing up the last page of the news, Hotaru came in and sat down beside Mikan. Soon, one of the maids brought her her breakfast and Mikan handed the newspaper to Hotaru so that she can read it. Mikan left Hotaru to finish her breakfast and returned to her room to put the finishing touches on to the papers that she had been working on last night for the sports festival preparations. Just as she put away the last piece of paper that she needed to give to the principal to look over, Zakarie knocked on her door to tell the car was now ready to take her and Hotaru to school. Mikan looked around her sitting room one more time before stepping out.

Hotaru was already waiting for her inside the limousine when the chauffeur opened the door for her. Mikan gave her a quick smile before sitting down in the seat across from her. That's when she noticed that Hotaru was wearing a butterfly clip in her hair that seemed to be made from some expensive looking violet stone.

"Is that a present from Ruka?" Mikan asked slightly in a teasing tone, but still in control of her mask.

"Yeah, so what?"

"Hmm... Nothing, just wondering. It'd be nice if I had a boyfriend that bought me stuff too."

"Your family owns both the largest chain of banks and fashion industries, why would you want someone else to buy you something that you can get anytime you want?" replied Hotaru with a blank face.

"Mmm... You know it's the feeling that counts. Anyways, your're rich too. Your family owns the biggest technology chain stores and your company always comes up with the newest inventions." stated Mikan after much thought, and then her eyes narrowed slightly and sighed, "What are you planning Hotaru. I can tell you're scheming something again and I don't like it at all. Whatever it is, you better stop."

"*sigh* this you is just no fun you know. I'll start planning later when you return to stupid Mikan"

While they had been conversing, the limo had already reached their school. The driver parked the car smoothly in front of the school gates and got out to open the door for his passengers.

"Ready Hotaru?" asked Mikan to which Hotaru replied with a single nod.

Mikan then fully changed in to her 'cool' mode and stepped out of the limo to the screaming of all her fans. She then put up a hand to get everybodys attention and when things quieted down a bit, she said in a clear, loud voice, " All of you should go to your classes. School will begin soon."

"Yes Mikan sama!" they chorused and ran to their classrooms to fulfill their idols' wish quickly.

"Well then, let's get going Hotaru." said Mikan as she started walking ahead.

*************** inside the classroom**************

waltzed in to the classroom wearing a fluffy teal shirt and skinny jeans. "Ok class. The news you've all been waiting for. * Drum roll please!* We have a new student! Come on in Natsume kun!"

Every single one of the girls, except for the student council, sighed in bliss at what they saw. A tall boy with raven hair walked in with an aura that said to back off. His crimson eyes looked around the classroom once to land on Mikan, who wasn't looking at him at all, but reading the documents she needed for the festival preparations.

"So class, this is Hyuuga Natsume kun. Do you have anything that you want to tell the class Natsume kun?"

"No. Just leave me alone. That's it." he muttered, which somehow caused all the girls to squeal for some random reason.

seemed to forget what he was supposed to do next, so one of the students had to ask, "Where will he be sitting?"

"Oh yes! So Natsume kun will be sitting beside Mikan chan!"

"Whaaaaat! Beside Mikan sama? Even if he is hot, we can't let him sit there! It's everybody's dream seat!" cried the whole class.

"Do you mind Mikan chan?" asked Mr. Narumi nervously.

"Whatever. I don't really care either way." said Mikan causing even the guys to swoon.

"So then, Natsume kun, you will be sitting beside Mikan chan." said Mr. Narumi, still a bit nervous.

Natsume walked over slowly to where Mikan was sitting and sat down beside her. Mikan moved over a little to give him some space and smiled slightly at him while saying, "Hello. My name is Sakura Mikan and I am the student council president. These people are the rest of the student council by the way." She then introduced every single one of the members sitting in front of them. "I'll give you a tour of the school during lunch, but after that you're going to have to find your way around the school yourself since the student council is pretty busy this whole week. Well then, I'll talk to you again after class." With that she focused back on the book she had been reading and ignored everything going around her.

Natsume didn't say anything, but he continuously stared at her until she looked up at him and said, "Do you need something?"

He shook his head once and once she went back to reading her book, he looked at her out of the corners of his eyes.

Mikan's POV

So Hyuuga san is still continuing to stare at me, but I don't really want to look up. I'll just pretend that I don't know he's looking and continue to read about the moment when Jane Eyre saves Mr. Rochester from being burnt alive by the fire his wife started.

*sighs inwardly a few minutes later*

I can't concentrate on what's going on in the story at all. I guess I'll have to pretend to listen to what Mr. Narumi is saying even though I know everything already.

Natsume's POV

*smirks*

Hnn… This girl is pretty bad at hiding what she feels. It's pretty easy to tell that I'm unnerving her. Just a few more minutes and she won't be able to pretend that she's concentrating on her book and not me...

*with his smirk widening*

Ha, so you couldn't deal with my staring anymore little girl? Well, I'm looking forward to the tour you're going to be giving me.

The POV of most of the guy students in class (most because the student council is only curious)

Why in the world is that Hyuuga person staring at our Mikan sama? He doesn't even know how great she is! He better not be after her just for her looks, which are gorgeousness themselves.

*wistful sigh*

I wish I was the one sitting beside Mikan sama...

The POV of most of the girls in class (most because girls with boyfriends 'namely the student council' are just wondering why he's staring)

Oh my gosh! It seems like Natsume sama ( he's already another one of their idols) is interested in our Mikan sama. They look pretty good sitting together. *sigh* If only Mikan sama was interested in getting a boyfriend, then we would have so much fun helping her.

The POV of one inventor in the class (a.k.a. Hotaru)

Judging from the materials I'm getting from the camera I installed in the back of the class, Hyuuga seems to be interested in my Mikan...

I bet I could get a fortune by selling pictures of them together. What would sell better, the couple look or just-friends look... I'll start researching right away. (With that she turned on her laptop with money signs in her eyes)

It's not very long this time, I'm afaid to say. However, I'm going to try and update once a week till the end of summer, so please look forward to the next chapter!

don't forget to read & review! ...farewell till nexttime ... :)


	4. Chapter 3: hazy memories

Chapter 3: Hazy Memories

"So, Hyuuga san, this is the school gym for the high school division. Instead of having assemblies in the gym, we have them in an auditorium that is connected to both the high school and middle school divisions. Both school divisions get together and have assemblies at the same time. However, we have two separate principals and student councils, one for each school division. Do you have everything so far Hyuuga san?" asked Mikan while looking over at him.

He nodded nonchalantly while leaning against the wall.

"Okay then, I'll explain all of the different floors to you. As you've noticed, the first floor only consists of first years. The second floor is for the second years and as you might have guessed already, the third floor is for the third years. Each floor has it's own science and home economics labs. Also, each floor has its' own computer lab with a projector screen. Every grade is divided in to 4 classes and they are lettered instead of being numbered. For example, 1-A instead of 1-1. Are you able to remember all that?"

"Hnn..."

"I'll take that as a yes. The cafeteria is right this way, so if you'll follow me we'll go eat lunch now. Oh yes, although each grade is on a different floor, we all share the same cafeteria. Hence, the reason why it is the most popular place for students. The cafeteria allows students of all grades to socialize with each other and as you might have figured out already, it is very loud. So here we are." she finished saying as she walked into the cafeteria.

As Mikan and Natsume walked in, they were greeted by the usual SPF's (short for student president fans) , with Sumire at the front of course. In the beginning, the fans only noticed Mikan, but as a few moments passed, they seemed to realize that there was a murdering presence right behind them. Why? Simply because Natsume had been partially crushed and pushed back by the fans as they crowded around Mikan. The fans moved apart to allow him to pass and he quickly grabbed Mikan's wrist and pulled her away from them.

With a slightly bewildered face, Mikan asked, "What is the matter Hyuuga-san?"

Natsume glared at her and coldly said, "Where do I get my food, I'm starving."

However, before Mikan could reply, Sumire blocked their way and asked, "Mikan sama, who is this? I've never seen him around and I know about everything that goes on around you!"

"Oh yes. Listen up everybody! This is Hyuuga Natsume san. He is the new transfer student that everybody has been wondering about and he is also my partner. Oh, and before-"

"Mikan sama, you mean that he's your CLASSROOM partner, not romantic in any way, right?" some of the boys asked nervously.

"Of course, what else would he be other than my class partner?" the boys' faces became full of colour once more at that. "And before I was interrupted," the boys cringed at this, "I was about to ask if everybody's ready for the sports festival."

"Of course Mikan sama!" the crowd chorused.

"Well then, I haven't had lunch yet so if you'll please let me by Sumire, that would be great."

Sumire moved away to the side looking a bit sheepish and said, "Have a nice lunch Mikan sama! And thank you for always working so hard for us!"

Mikan simply gave her a smile and walked away to get in line for her food. "Sorry about that Hyuuga san, it happens everyday so I'm used to it, but it must have surprised you."

"Hnn"

"However, I think that you just might have to face it everyday now too, for I saw Sumire staring at you the way she does all the other members of the student council." she said with a slight laugh while paying for her food.

"Doesnt's she look at you the same way?"

"Mmm... Not that I've noticed. Why would she? The other council members are more popular than I am."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that little girl." Natsume replied with an amused look on his face. He followed as Mikan led them to one of the tables.

"How am I a little girl? We're the same age you know." she asked curiously as they sat down at the table where all the other student council members were.

Natsume looked at her with an 'are you serious' face. For confirmation, he glanced at the other student council members around the table. At their slight nods, he simply sighed. " You figure it out, aren't you supposed to be smart if you're the president?"

"She is, but only academically." said Anna with a smile.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean? I'm smart you know!" said Mikan indignantly.

"Mmm, sure little girl." said Natsume nonchalantly while finishing up the last of his hamburger and fries. "Whatever you say. I bet you already know how many followers you have and you're enjoying it secretly."

Mikan simply chose to ignore the implication that was still there about her being stupid and the accusation about her being an attention lover. She quietly finished up her lunch and stood up. Before the others could ask where she was going, she stated, "Roof." She walked away gracefully, returned her tray to one of the lunch ladies and walked out the cafteria doors in a matter of few seconds.

A few moments passed before Natsume asked, "The roof? What's she doing there?"

"Haa... It's where she relaxes. There's a garden up there that the principal built specially for her so that it'll help to reduce her stress. Having to schedule many things for the upcoming festival and doing all the other stuff she does on a regular basis as a president isn't that easy to do. She's always put others before herself, so in order to make sure that she doesn't tire herself out too much, the principal made it one of her duties to go up and take a look at the flowers in the garden. She doesn't know, but all the flowers up there were specially chosen for their ability to make people smile. Mr. Misaki the head science teacher specially bred the flowers in his greenhouse by the order of the principal. If you're wondering why the principal goes to such pains for Mikan, it's because she's his niece. Now pay up for the all the information I just told you." Hotaru said monotonously while stretching out her hand in Natsume's direction.

Ruka looked at his girlfriend with exasperation. "It's his first day, leave him alone. He doesn't know just yet about how you're a money crazed girl." He looked over at Natsume and said, "Don't worry, she's just joking about the money."

"Actually, I was being serious."

"Haa... like I said, give him some slack."

The lunch hour quickly passed with Ruka and Hotaru arguing about if Natsume should pay Hotaru or not. The person in quiestion simply looked on with amusement while the other members simply ignored the two since they were used to it already. Their argument continued until the end of lunch.

* * *

><p>-they have already finished classes for the day and it is now after school-<p>

"Hyuuga san, I see no reason as to why you had to follow me here to the school grass field. The only thing that I'll be doing is watching over the preparations for the sports festival. I don't see how any of this can be of interest to you." said Mikan while counting the number of tents they had.

"Hnn. That black haired friend of yours told me to follow you."

"If you say so. Then while you're here, why don't you make yourself useful and carry these tents over to the side where they will be set up tomorrow? After all, the festival is only 2 days away, so we need to finish all the preparations soon."

"Whatever." replied Natsume in a bored tone.

He picked up two of the big tents and put one over each shoulder. He carried them over to the spot where Mikan had pointed out and set them down. He repeated the process until all of them had been moved. While he had been transferring the tents, Mikan had also been doing the same thing, except with boxes full of equipment.

"Oi."

Mikan carried on for she hadn't heard him.

"I said Oi!"

"Hmm? What is it Hyuuga san? Do you want to help with something else?" asked Mikan while lifting another box that probably weighed over ten kilograms.

"Why are you lifting those? Don't you have anybody else you can use to move those?"

"Why should I, when I can lift them myself? I'm quite strong, unlike what most people think. No need to worry, I've lifted heavier things than this before." she replied while lifting another box.

"Haa... You really are clueless." Natsume said while walking over and grabbing the boxes from her. "I'm not doing this for you. If you got hurt while you're with me, I bet that inventor friend of yours would sue me and I'm not that rich to be in cases where I know I'll lose."

"Actually, Hotaru might just do tha-! Ow! Wait Hyuuga san! Stop moving! My hair seems to have gotten caught on one of your buttons because of the wind just now. Could you just try to slowly bend down and drop the box then untangle my hair for me?" she said, all the while grimacing from the pain. "Quickly, if you can."

"Haa, wait a sec." Natsume carefully put down the box he was hooding and tried to find out where her hair was tangled with him. Since Mikan couldn't see what he was doing exactly, she didn't see the look of surprise that passed his face. Feeling that it was taking a while for I'm to untangle her hair, she slowly turned around to finish the job herself.

"Now let's see, where is it caught..." she muttered e trying to push the rest of her hair behind her ear. "Ah! Found it! I didn't know you wore a necklace? It's quite pretty." as she slowly finished getting her hair away from him, she examined the ring hanging from the silver chain around his neck. "I think I've seen that ring design before. Hmm... Maybe it's one of my mother's old designs. Those are sakura petals engraved on the ring, right?"

"Who knows."

"Mmm.. Wish I could remember where I've seen it before. Well, it'll come to me one of these days. Oh and Hyu- just a second." she took out her cell phone while putting her hair in a ponytail. "Hello? Yes, what is it Hotaru? Where am I? On the grass field, ... Mmhm, ok, I'll be up there soon. See you then. -Flips her phone off- I'm sorry Hyuuga san, but it seems like I'm needed up at the student council room. Do you mind just putting the rest of the boxes over there for me? There aren't that many left, so it shouldn't take you very long. You can just go home afterwards since it seems like I won't have enough tine to see you again today. Thank you for all the hard work and I'll see you tomorrow!"

"Hnn."

Taking that to be his way of saying goodbye, Mikan turned around at walked across the field toward the school building. When she was almost out of view, a young raven haired girl came up beside Natsume and asked, "Who was that brother? Do you have a girlfriend already? And it's only our first day since we got here."

His eyes turning warm for the first time, Natsume said, "Don't be stupid. That was just the student council president of the high school division. She was just being nice to the new student, it's her job to be nice. Isn't the middle school division president the same way?"

"Mmm. Guess so. Youichi san seemed like he didn't really want to be the one greeting me. I sort of felt like telling him I could ask someone else to show me around. We're even in the same class! He's sort of hard to talk to, but all the girls seem to be in love with him."

"Well, since I just finished what pres wanted me to do, let's go home."

"Oh no! I hope father isn't hungry yet. I told him I wanted to make dinner today, so he told the chef to go home early. Come on brother, walk faster!"

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever."

All the way towards their limousine, they continued to bicker. However, for some odd reason, Natsume couldn't help but think of the little girl he had met so long ago with his siter. Pushing his thoughts away, Natsume climbed in to the limousine after his sister and they sped away for hom

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><p>mmm... I had a writer's block after the first few hundred words, and I thought I wouldn't be able to update this week, but I made it! I hope you enjoyed the chapter and I'll get down to writing the next one right away. Thank you for reading once again and RxR please! :)<p> 


	5. Chapter 4: Found Out in a Second

*Bowing with my head touching the floor* Sorry for the late update! But to make up for it, I made this chapter longer than my other ones. ,. There will be a very short, but important notice at the end so please don't for get to read it!

P.s. Please Read & Review

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><p>Chapter 4: Found Out in a Second<p>

*The next day on the school roof. Morning classes are already finished and lunch is already half over.*

Mikan was sitting on one of the wooden benches on the roof. She had brought some of her council work up with her so that she would have less to do after school. Smiling slightly to herself, she wondered how her uncle could have missed the fact that he told her only to take some time out of her day to go up and look at the flowers, but never said that she wasn't allowed to take her work up with her. It's no secret to her what the hidden reason behind the garden is. However, if he found out about her taking her work up with her everytime she went, then he'd add another rule about no work being allowed up in the garden. She would have to be careful not to get caught by him.

As she continued to fill in all the needed information on the sheets, she heard the door open to the roof garden. Since there were only a few people that had a key, she didn't look up knowing that there was no danger. However, as the person came closer, she realized that the footsteps sounded unfamiliar. Masking her surprise and confusion, she looked up to find crimson eyes looking down at her.

"How did you get in here Hyuuga san? I'm sure that I locked the door when I came in."

"It was locked."

"Then how? You don't have a key-" realization washed across her face as she said, " Actually, no need to answer. You paid Hotaru for a copy of the key didn't you?"

"Hnn..."

"*sigh* I need to get her to stop doing things for money. Why did you want to come up here anyways? There's only flowers to look at and I thought boys weren't in to those kind of things." she stated while continuing with her work.

"Little girl, of course boys don't like flowers."

"Then why come up here? You even asked Hotaru for a key and I'm sure it wasn't very cheap."

He muttered ,"Just curious about this 'special garden' that your uncle made for you."

" Mmm, it's nice isn't it. There's at least some kind of flower in here even in the winter because it's a greenhouse. It must have cost uncle quite a lot to have a greenhouse built on the roof, but I'm not saying anything."

"Hnn... Like I care."

Mikan had a hard time trying not to roll her eyes at him. "Well, if the subject of flowers bore you, then why don't we talk about something of interest for you? Maybe your younger sister perhaps?"

Surprise was on Natsume's face before he masked it again, but Mikan did not miss it.

Laughing slightly, she said, "Don't worry. I'm not a stalker of any sorts and I'm not part of the fan girls you have seemed to gain in just one day. Did your sister tell you about the middle school president?" Natsume gave a slight nod and then she continued. "Well, Youichi is actually my cousin and when he talked to me about the new transfer student in his class, I had a suspicion that you two would be related. So, I asked him what her name was and when he said Hyuuga Aoi, I knew right away that she was your younger sister. Don't worry, if you don't like people knowing that you have a sibling, I won't tell anybody."

"Whatever" was his only reply.

Mikan gave an inward sigh and continued with the work that she had paused while talking to him. As she worked through the big pile of paper, she could feel Natsume watching her again. Not being bothered by it the way she was yesterday, she just kept on working. However, it seems that Natsume was unable to take the silence.

"Oi, little girl."

"Yes? What can I do for you Hyuuga san?" she replied without looking up.

"You know, it's rude to not look at the person you're talking with."

Sighing inwardly, Mikan looked up to see the smirk that already had girls swooning from its' power. "Yes? So what can I do for you?"

"You never explained about the sports festival. I'm not taking part if it's going to be waste of my time."

"Well, sorry to disappoint you, but the sports festival is mandatory just like the cultural festival. The teachers even go on rounds to find students that are trying to hide, they even create a special student squad for the day to help them. It's probably because my uncle felt like all festivals should be a part of every students life." she paused to take a sip of water from her bottle and then continued. "The festival is divided up in to two parts. During the day, there are many events that students take part in. There are the usual events such as tug-o-war, beanbag throw, three-legged race and more. However, the student council has created a special event this year. It's supposed to be a secret until the day of the festival so I can't tell you what it will be."

"Whatever."

Ignoring Natsume's slight interruption, Mikan continued. "The event that the students look forward to the most actually occurs after school's over. There is going to be a dance held in the gym and even though it isn't mandatory, most of the high school population will be attending. Will you be going also?"

"Dunno. Are you?" he asked while looking over at her.

"Of course. As the president, I have to make sure that nothing goes wrong during the party." Mikan said as if she was stating the obvious, which it was.

"Well, if you're going, then mayb-" Natsume was cut off by the sound of the warning bell.

Mikan apparently didn't hear anything he said for she quickly got all of her stuff together and headed for the door. When she felt that Natsume wasn't following her, she looked back and asked why he wasn't coming along. "Mr. Jinno will surely give you detention if you are even a minute late. You didn't see him yesterday because we only have math on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Come on Hyuuga san, I'm going to leave you behind if you're just going to stand there." Mikan turned around and resumed walking toward the door.

Natsume slowly walked after her and Mikan waited for him to step out of the garden so that she could lock the door. After Mikan closed the door and turned the key around, she put the key back in to her skirt pocket and took the lead as they walked towards their class.

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><p>When Mikan and Natsume walked in to their class, they weren't bombarded by the SPF's as usual. Even though Mikan was slightly confused at this change in her daily life, she kept her guise on and continued towards her seat. As soon as she sat down, Mikan leaned forward and tapped Hotaru on the shoulder. "Hotaru, is there something wrong with the class today?" she whispered.<p>

Sighing at the question Hotaru said, "Idiot, it's because of the guy sitting beside you" Mikan looked over at Natsume to see that he was glaring at anybody that came too close.

"Haa, Hyuuga san, how long have you been glaring for?"

"Hnn."

"Ever since you two walked in." stated Hotaru.

"Hyuuga san, you reall-" Mikan was cut off by the entrance of Mr. Jinno, their math teacher.

Jinno looked over at Mikan with a cold stare and said, "Ms. Sakura, is there something that you need to say?"

"No sir."

"I thought not. Well then, open your textbooks to page 291. *sigh* Yes Ms. Sakura?"

"Hyuuga san here needs a textbook sir."

"He can share with you for now. So is anybody willing to come up here and solve this problem?" he said while pointing to the board that read **'if 1/2x +1/2(1/2x + 1/2(1/2x +1/2(1/2****x + ... = y, the what is x?'**. Nobody raised their hand. "I thought not." Then with and evil look in his eyes, Mr. Jinno said, "Transfer student, come up here and solve it."

All the students knew that the only people in class capable of getting the right answer are Mikan and Hotaru. Mikan glanced over to gauge Natsume's reaction and was surprised to see that he was actually smirking.

"Old man, do you really expect me to solve that question?" he said still smirking.

The class got quieter, if that was even possible. All of their heads turned simultaneously to look at Jinno and a few even shivered in fright when they saw the anger on his face.

"Old man? Well, this old man expects you to solve the question in the next two minutes, unless you do not know how to solve it?" he said while trying to remain calm.

"No need to jump to conclusions. I'll just tell you the answer from here so that I don't have to walk up to the board." the students stared at him as if he had gone crazy, even Hotaru wouldn't be able to solve it without solving it on paper. "The answer is **'If x = 1, then the equation likes this: 1/2 +1/2(1/2 + 1/2(1/2 +1/2(1/2 + ... = y , 1/2 +1/4 + 1/8 + 1/16 + 1/32 + ... = y , y = 1 = x, y = x ."**

After a slight pause in which Jinno looked at his answer key, Jinno reluctantly said , "Correct."

The rest of the class looked at Natsume in amazement, but quickly turned away when they saw him glaring at them once again.

"Wow, I never knew you were a genius Hyuuga san. You might even be smarter than Hotaru." said Mikan while glancing over sideways at him.

"Hnn" was his only reply.

The rest of the class passed by without any more incidents and science with Mr. Misaki seemed to be over quickly. The students that aren't in any clubs simply went home while the others went to perform their individual club activities. The student council went to the grass field to continue with their preparations and Natsume just tagged along as well. The council split up into pairs to work more efficiently and the pairings went like this: Hotaru with Ruka, Anna with Yuu, Nonoko with Koko, and Mikan with Natsume.

The pairs worked on their individual jobs without much chatter and only a quiet murmur could be heard in the areas where they were working. Well, except for one area. Mikan and Natsume worked without any sort of conversation and simply just handed each other the equipment they needed. However, their quiet solitude was interrupted when they heard somebody shouting Natsume's name.

"Is that your sister Hyuuga san?" asked Mikan curiously.

"Hnn, yeah."

She then said, "Well call her over here, she seems to be looking for you."

"Haa, fine. Oi! Get over here Aoi!"

Aoi looked around to see where her brother's voice had come from and then caught sight of him working side by side with Mikan. With a slightly surprised face she began to quickly walk over to them. As she was passing beside a bunch of boxes stacked precariously, a person on the other side of the boxes tripped and fell backwards on to the boxes. All Aoi could do was to stare in fright as the boxes fell her way.

Suddenly a voice cried out, "Watch out!". Aoi felt herself being pushed away and as she looked back to see who had saved her, she saw Mikan trying to catch the falling boxes in her arms.

Somehow Mikan managed to catch all the boxes falling her way and Aoi sighed out in relief. However, her relief didn't last very long. One of the metal batons in the boxes had fallen out and as Mikan stepped back to put down the boxes, she stepped on it and her foot slipped out beneath her. The boxes flew back up in to the air as Mikan fell backwards with an "Oomph". Staring up at the boxes falling towards her once again, Mikan tried to roll out of their way and almost succeeded. The heaviest box holding the metal batons fell too quickly for her to avoid and it landed on her right foot.

Mikan tried to stifle a scream and succeeded, but only after making her lips bleed from biting down on them. All the people that had seen what had happened rushed over to her. Hotaru quickly pulled off the box from Mikan's foot and Ruka brought a first aid kit. Aoi kept on asking if she was alright and Mikan smiled slightly in return and assured her that she was perfectly fine. That's when Natsume suddenly came up and picked her up bridal style. The crowd stared at him in surprise as he started to walk towards the school.

"Hey! Put me down!" shouted Mikan.

Hotaru quickly walked to catch up with him and when she was walking beside him she said, "Where do you think you're taking her?"

"School infirmary."

"That's fine then." she said as she watched them walk off.

"Hotaru! Make him put me down! If you don't put me down in the next few seconds I will make you." said Mikan. The first part was directed at Hotaru while the next part was said to the bottle holding her up.

Natsume smirked while saying, "And how are you going to do that? You don't look strong enough to kill a fly, let alone hurt me."

"Hyuuga, you shouldn't take Mikan that lightly and Mikan, just let him carry you to the infirmary. It won't hurt you and" she paused to give her friend an evil look before continuing, "I'll tell your uncle about the time you didn't go up to the garden and then-"

Hotaru was cut off by Mikan when she said, "Fine I'll let Hyuuga san carry me, but you better not tell uncle or I'm going to tell Ruka about that picture you have of you two in your-" before Mikan could finish her threat she was knocked out by Hotaru's baka gun. Holding her head she let out a groan and didn't complain about being carried anymore.

* * *

><p>Natsume walked into the infirmary to be met by the school nurse who was shocked at seeing the rigid form of Mikan in his arms.<p>

"Sakura san! What happened to you!" cried out the nurse in a motherly manner.

"It's nothing Keshia san. A box just fell on my foot. I'm not hurt that badly, but Hyuuga san here insisted that I go to the infirmary, so here I am."

"Hnn, I wouldn't call a box full of metal batons landing on your foot nothing."

With a horrified face Keshia cried out, "A box full of metal batons! I've got to tell your uncle right away!" She picked up the school phone to dial the principal, but stopped when Mikan grabbed her arm, almost making Natsume drop her.

"Wait! You don't need to call him! I told you, I'm not really hurt." Mikan protested.

After looking at her critically for a while, Keshia sighed and finally put the phone down. "Fine. But if you don't do exactly what I say, I'm going to tell him. Hyuuga san and this middle schooler here are my witnesses."

Mikan quickly said, "Sure. Whatever you say, right?" After a slight pause Mikan suddenly looked around while saying, "What middle schooler?"

Aoi shyly stepped out from where she had been hiding behind Natsume and waved her hand hesitantly. "Umm. That would be me."

"Aoi. Why'd you follow us here?" said Natsume while looking at his sister.

Tears started forming in her eyes as she said, "It's my fault she got hurt! I should be taking responsibility."

"You really don't have to do that Aoi chan. Can I call you that by the way?" when Aoi nodded vigorously, Mikan continued. "I don't think we've been properly introduced just yet. My name is Sakura Mikan and I'm pretty sure that you have already met my cousin, Youichi. Nice to meet you."

"I'm Hyuuga Aoi and nice to meet you too Mikan san!"

"If you need any help, just ask Youichi. Tell him that he'll be doing me a favor, then he won't complain." Mikan said with a smile. "Ouch! Can't you be a bit more gentle Keshia san?"

Laughing at Mikan's glare Keshia tightened the bandage around Mikan's foot. "As you promised, you have to do what I say and not walk on this foot for two to three days. You can use these crutches" she said while handing her a pair of metal crutches.

"Haa, that's it, right? Nothing else?"

"Mmhmm. That's it." replied Keshia while chuckling.

"Then I can go back now?" when Keshia nodded, she stood up on her left foot and took the crutches from Keshia's hands. "I'll see you later Keshia san."

Mikan left with Natsume and Aoi following her while Keshia watched them leave.

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><p>It took a while for Mikan to assure everyone that she was alright, then she went to the front gates slowly with Hotaru. When they had almost reached the gates, they heard somebody calling out.<p>

"Mikan nee-san! Wait for me!" someone shouted.

When the two girls turned around, they saw Youichi running towards them. "Youichi! I thought you went home already!" Mikan cried out. After looking around to make sure that they were the only ones there, Mikan let her mask slip for a few seconds and gave him one of her happy-go-lucky smiles. Then she returned to her "cool" self and her smile diminished greatly. Little did she know that a pair of crimson eyes had seen the whole thing while hiding behind a tree. The eyes disappeared in a few moments and Mikan never noticed.

"Are you alright Mikan nee? Did you tell uncle?" (The high school principal is Mikan's father's older brother. Youichi's father is Mikan's mother's younger brother, that's why Youichi calls the principal uncle. Confusing, but I felt like I should explain just in case you thought the high school principal was Youichi's dad. :) )

"Of course I didn't tell uncle. He'd freak out at me if he found out. I even made the nurse promise not to tell him. Anyways Youichi, are you going home now or are you coming over?" she asked.

With a smile that would make any girl swoon, he said, "I'm coming over today. Hotaru nee, are you going too?"

"Of course. You never know what this idiot might do next." she said as if it was a matter of fact, causing Youichi to smile. On the other hand, Mikan grimaced at Hotaru's use of her private nickname.

"Haa, let's go then. I bet the chauffeur is waiting outside." said Mikan while slowly making her way to the gates on her crutches once more.

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><p>Aoi's POV<p>

I was secretly following Mikan san to make sure that she made it to her car safely, but when I felt that there was someone coming behind me, I hid behind a tree to watch. Surprised at seeing Youichi san running towards Mikan san, I remained behind the tree even though I knew that I wasn't dong anything bad. I watched quietly as Mikan san and Hotaru san stopped and turned around and waited for Youichi san.

Oh-my-gosh! Why is Mikan san smiling like that? I thought everybody said she's always calm and collected? The happy-go-lucky smile disappeared quickly and Mikan san returned to her normal self. Feeling that I just saw something I shouldn't, I started to walk away quietly.

Something about that smile bothers me a lot. Mmm, I think I've seen it before. No, that's impossible. I've only been at this school for what, two days. There's no way I've seen that smile before. It still bugs me though, that smile...

"What took you so long! I thought you'd said that all you were going to do was make sure that the little girl got into her car properly!" said my annoyed brother.

"Sorry brother, but I needed some time to think about something." I said quietly while still trying to figure out where I'd seen it before.

* * *

><p>Normal POV<p>

After looking curiously at his sister, Natsume walked towards their awaiting car only to stop when Aoi let out a small squeal.

"Now what?" he said in an annoyed voice.

Looking at him Aoi smugly said, "Nothing, I just remembered something important." At his searching stare she said, "No, I'm not telling. You're going to have to find out yourself like I did. Mmm, I'll give you a hint though. It has to do with our life before Persona found us."

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><p>ATTENTION ALL READERS!<p>

THERE WILL NOW BE A VOTE FOR WHAT PARTY I SHOULD LET THE GA STUDENTS HAVE, SO TAKE A FEW SECONDS OF YOUR PRECIOUS LIFE AND **VOTE!**

Srry, I know you all don't really like taking the time to leave comments, but I'm sort of stuck as to what the dance should be so please answer my call of help! :P

The choices for the dance are the following:

1) masquerade maybe it's too fancy...

2) costume party always wanted to have one of my own, but most likely never will...

3) casual everyday casual clothes with a dj?

4) concert? a party where some sort of singer comes and sings on a stage while the students dance?

5) please leave any suggestions that you may have! :)

Thank you all for taking your time to read it through! It'd be nice if you're all looking forward to my next chapter... ^.^


	6. Chapter 5: sports festival

So I was in U.s. today and I was walking past this store that had this big window. I look in to see that there is a mannequin sitting on the sofa while looking out at the street. I look again and I see that the mannequin is _**blinking... !.! **_Totally freaked me out to figure out that it was a person the whole time... Stupid me XP

Well, forgive me for being MIA for so long, but I just couldn't write even though I knew what was going to be in the chapter... I have a gut feeling that the same things going to happen to the next one so please do not expect me to be uploading anytime soon...

And **THANK YOU **to all those that voted for what sort of party I should give. From all the comments I recieved, I was able to come up with a pretty interesting idea, so I'm glad that I got the story plan down :) Thank you once more and enjoy reading!

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><p>Chapter 5: Sports Festival<p>

As Mikan stepped out of her limo with Youichi and Hotaru right behind her, she was bombarded by her fans more vigorously than before. She was almost pushed back into the car because of how they were crowding around her. Mikan couldn't hear what the students were saying at all for all of their shouts merged together into one. Putting two of her fingers in to her mouth while leaning on to her crutches, she whistled shrilly and the effects were immediate. The crowd turned silent and they all had their hands over their ears.

"Okay everybody. What's all this commotion about? Today is finally the big day of the sports festival, shouldn't you all be getting ready with your friends?" she said in a clear and loud voice so that everybody could hear what she said. Her questions were met with another bout of people trying to shout over each other and she had to whistle once again. "One at a time or have somebody as a spokesperson."

"That would be me." Sumire said while proudly stepping forward from the crowd. "As the president of the student council fan club and the elite student president's fan club I am rightfully the spokesperson for the rest of the student body that has anything to do with the student council." panting a little after saying that all in one breath, she paused for a few seconds before going on. "Anyways, Mikan sama, we all heard that you were hurt yesterday. "Are you okay? Is there anything that we can do to help?" is what every student here would like to say I'm sure."

Laughing slightly, Mikan said "Thank you everybody for all your concern, but I'm fine. Mmm... but there is something that you can do though." all the students began crowding around her once again. "Woah! Okay, before you start coming so close, go to all of your classes and get ready for the festival! You wouldn't want to waste all of my hard work would you? Now get ready and I'll meet you guys at the field!"

By the time she was done speaking, there was only Hotaru left standing by her side. The car drove off after Mikan took out her bag and she started walking, well slowly limping, towards the school with Hotaru following close behind.

* * *

><p><em><span>On the sports field<span>_

The field was crowded with students in their gym strips and they were talking loudly amongst themselves. The girls were wearing figure fitting plain white t-shirts with the school emblem and they all had on the same black shorts. The guys were wearing almost the same uniform except their shorts were longer and looser. They all covered their ears simultaneously as the microphone shrieked.

"Oh my, sorry about that everybody." All the students turned to see Mikan standing on stage with the rest of the student council behind her. "So are you all ready to have fun?". Her question was answered by the sound of loud cheering. "Well then, you all know that the school has been divided into two colours, red and white? I'll take your shouts as a yes. The colour with the most points at the end of the day will win. Each event gives a certain amount of points. Since, as you can see, I can not really take part in any of the events, I will be your mc for today!" she said while smiling slightly at the cheers of the students. "Ok. So everybody listen up! As you all know, there will be no cheating permitted during any of the events. And the other rule is... Have fun!"

Her last words were greeted by loud cheering that drowned out all other noises.

"The first event will be a relay race. Each team will have three pairs participating, one pair from each grade. The first part of the race will be a wheelbarrow race, and then half way through, the pairs will change positions and the person that had been walking with their hands will piggy back the other person. Do you all get it now? Okay then get in to your positions." people scrambled and argued over who would be participating, so it took a while for both teams to get ready. Finally when both teams had three different pairs ready to go, Mikan shouted in to the mike, "Let the race begin!"

The first year pair from the white team were leading the wheelbarrow, but right before the exchange point, they were over taken by the third year pair from the red team. The field was full of shouts of encouragement and the last moments of the race was nerve-racking with a pair from each team running side-by-side. In the end the race ended with the second years from the white team in first place, the first years of the red team in second place, and the third years of the red team in third place. First place recieved 500 points, second place got 250 points, and third place got 100 points. The three pairs that weren't in the ranking did not receive any points.

The games continued one after another until it reached lunchtime. The students brought their lunches on to the field to eat and there was a constant hum from people's conversations. Natsume was just wandering around for after the student council had finished eating lunch with him, thy ha left saying that they needed to get ready for the last and most special game of the day. Since he had not tried to converse with others beside those in the student council, Natsume did not have any body to talk with and his boredom grew until it turned in to annoyance. It didn't really help that his fan girls were openly following his every move with their eyes. He was about to turn around and lash out at them in anger when an announcement came on saying that lunch was over and would all students assemble in front of the stage once again.

Standing on stage once again, Mikan asked, "Have you all been having fun?" when the crowd cheered, she went on to say, "Then are you all ready for the special event of the day?" Her question was met by an even louder cheer as she handed the mike over to Hotaru who had been standing quietly behind her the whole time. Mikan move off the stage slowly on her crutches.

"I will be the one explaining the rules to you since Mikan has to go and prepare for the event for you guys." when the crowd protested, Hotaru glared at them coldly until they were silent once more. "Be quiet until I finish talking, or else..." she threatened while holding up her baka-gun. Smiling at their now scared faces, she continued with her explanation. "As you al know the student council has prepared something special for you all this year so you'd better appreciate it. It took up a lot of my precious time that could have been spent making inventions that would have brought in lots of money. Haa... Anyways, look behind the stage."

As all students simultaneously stretched their heads to look as they had been ordered, gasps of surprise could be heard when they saw the big piece of fabric that had been hiding something being lifted away. Beneath it lay what looked like the walls of a castle, complete with a design that made it seem as if it was made of bricks. Fake ivy climbed up the brick walls and ended at the top. Birdsong could be heard coming out from the mechanical birds situated in random places.

"The game is called '10 Minutes till Rescue' and anybody that wishes to try can make an attempt. However, since I was the one that designed this maze, it will hard for anybody to rescue someone in 10 minutes. There will be all sorts of traps to hinder your path and there will also be many dead ends. The people you rescue will either be a fairytale prince or princess, but there will be fake ones to confuse you. 10 people are allowed to try each time and it doesn't matter if they are guys or girls. At the end of the hour, the team that had rescued the most amount of people will win." Hotaru tuned around as if to leave, but then twirled back with a sly smile. "And just for those people that are having a hard time finding a reason as to why they should participate, there will also be a single Queen that needs to be rescued. The one that rescues the Queen will recieve 500 extra points. I'll leave you to guess for yourselves who it is, but I'm willing to give one hint, she's a part of the student council. If you don't know who it is still, then you're an i-d-i-o-t."

Natsume watched silently as the crowd's anticipation grew along with the sound they were making. He already knew who the queen was thanks to the fact that the stage held all the female student council members except for one, Mikan. Smirking slightly to himself, he walked over to take part in the first round.

"Everybody ready? Then get set and go!" shouted Anna.

Ten people rushed forward into ten different entrances, Natsume included of course. As soon as Natsume strolled in, the path he had taken split off into three different ones. Continuing to walk straight, Natsume took the middle path and stopped only to read what it said on a small chalkboard. It read "You have five seconds to avoid being drenched in buckets of glue". Raising one of his eyebrows and looking up, Natsume carefully avoided being caught underneath the five buckets of glue.

Smirking to himself, Natsume's face seemed to ask, "Is that it?". Almost as if Hotaru had read his mind, ten arrows with fists instead of arrowheads flew towards him. He attempted to quickly dodge them and almost managed except for one. Flying backwards, he crashed into the wall behind him. Luckily, the wall was padded, seeing as it was Hotaru that had planned everything.

Grimacing, he looked around warily for more arrows before moving on. He jumped over deep pools of steaming goo, scrambled up when he almost fell down a trap hole, ducked when a hidden person shot baka cannons at him and stopped at a door that had been hidden until he had accidentally pushed on a certain stone. He hesitantly pushed open the door, uncertain of what lay within. From all the things that had happened in the last few minutes, he had figured out that Hotaru loved to have fun at the expense of others, including himself. He was sure that she had hidden cameras to watch his mistakes.

**Two more minutes.**

He pushed in the door faster and stepped back in shock when a pillow came flying at his face. Tossing the pillow aside, he stepped into the room quickly. Three pillows flew quickly in succession towards his face once more. Dodging them all like an expert, he finally caught a glimpse of his attacker. To his surprise, he saw Mikan dressed in a medieval style midnight blue princess dress with a silver crown on her head. Staring at him cooly, she was getting ready to fire another pillow his way.

"Stop!" he shouted, causing Mikan to stop in surprise.

"Why?"

"I should be the one asking you why! Why are you throwing pillows at me?"

"Hyuuga san, if you haven't noticed, I'm the queen. It's not really in my plans to be rescued in the first game. Anyways, you now have around only a minute left to catch me and I'm not going to make it easy for you."

Natsume smiled evilly at her while slowly advancing forward. "Are you sure about that? I plan on winning this round with you as my prize."

Giving him a cool stare, all she said was, "Bring it on."

**60, 59, 58, 57...**

Natsume rushed forward in order to grab her around the waist, but his attempt failed when Mikan decided to jump and use his head as a springboard.

**56, 55, 54, 53...**

She landed safely on the ground behind him and glanced back to see that he was already standing back up on his feet. Having learned from his mistake, he advanced slowly this time.

**52, 51, 50, 49, 48, 47...**

His hand shot out to grab her wrist and Mikan blocked him with the back of her hand. Her foot kicked out to trip him, but he easily stepped over it and instead caused her to trip and fall into his arms.

**46, 45, 44, 43, 42...**

Mikan struggled to push herself off of his chest and succeeded for a few seconds before he twirled her around and grabbed on to both of her wrists.

**41, 40, 39, 38, 37, 36...**

"Will you let me go? I'm supposed to be rescued, not kidnapped!" she cried out while struggling.

**35, 34, 33, 32, 31...**

"Then maybe you should have let me rescue you instead of throwing pillows and evading me!"

**30, 29, 28, 27, 26...**

"I'm not supposed to be rescued in the first round! Then the others won't feel like playing anymore!"

**25, 24, 23, 22, 20, 19...**

"So? I'm playing right now! It's not like I took part to have fun, I just don't want to lose!"

"Liar! I can tell that you actually enjoy being around other people! I've always been good at reading people and I know that Hyugga san is not as cold as you look!"

**18, 17, 16, 15, 14, 13...**

Natsume's face took on a look of shock even though his hold on Mikan did not loosen. Mikan continued to struggle as Natsume returned to his normal self.

**12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7...**

Natsume held on to her wrists with one hand while he grabbed her around the waist with the other. He threw her over his shoulder and held on to her legs so that she wouldn't accidentally kick him in the face.

**6, 5, 4...**

**"LET"**

**3**

**"ME"**

**2**

**"GO!"**

**1**

**_Game End_**


	7. Chapter 6: Trick of the Eye

Thank you to all of you that helped make the decision about what sort of party they would get by voting. I really didn't know what to choose and I was able to decide after much thought, so I hope that the party meets your expectations. Feel free to leave a review after reading.

P.S. I am sad to say, but I don't know when I will be able to write the next chapter since school has finally started again... :( Hopefully, I won't be getting any tests in a while so that i can ata least get started. Well, all I can say is "Please read this chapter and look forward to the next one as much as possible!"

* * *

><p>Chapter 6: Trick of the eye<p>

Natsume rubbed at the back of his head where a barely noticeable bump was making itself known to its' owner. He grimaced for a split second before replacing it with a smirk. The pain had been worth it to see a different side of Mikan. Still, he had never expected her to be that strong ...

_Flashback_

**"LET- ME- GO!"**

-Game end-

Most people would have stayed still after having been thrown over some person's shoulder like a potato sack, but Mikan wasn't included in that group of people. She struggled till the last second and when Natsume loosened his grip for the slightest bit before the words "Game End" sounded, she hadn't been anticipating it and slid forward. Forward as in sliding down Natsume's back face first. She took advantage of her momentum and flipped backwards while using his head as a springboard once again. She landed softly on both of her feet while Natsume turned around to give her a glare while rubbing the back of his head.

"Sorry Hyuuga san, but it seems like you won't be taking me as a prize since I got loose before the signal for the end of the game sounded. You should go back though since all players are supposed to gather near the stage once again."

Still glaring at her, Natsume turned around to walk out of the room. He stopped before exiting and turned around. "Next time don't kick around when you're wearing a skirt, Polkadots." He slipped out the door while smirking to himself.

Frowning slightly, Mikan sat down on the floor and waited for the next round to start.

_Flashback End_

Natsume smirked again, remembering his childish comment about her underwear. He leaned against the wall of the gym while waiting for the party to start. At first he didn't really feel like coming, but then he remembered Mikan would be hosting and had decided to come to see if there would be anymore chances for him to tease her. You better appreciate it, he thought. I had to find a mask at the last minute to come to the party. He would not have been allowed inside without a mask since it was a casual clothes masquerade party with some group performing for the concert.

The lights dimmed as he tried to come up with more ideas on how to get back at Mikan for having used his head as a springboard, **twice**. He glanced towards the stage only to be annoyed to see that it was empty. He was about to look away when he saw a familiar figure hobbling towards the spot illuminated by the light on her crutches. A simple emerald butterfly mask decorated with beads covered Mikan's face. She was wearing a simple but elegant black tanktop that made her hazel hair seem to shine even more in contrast to the darkness. Her grey skinny jeans highlighted her lean form and they ended off with one sneakered foot while the other was still tightly bandaged while wearing a sandal.

Natsume frowned when he saw the foot for he felt that something was not quite right about the picture. However, before he could figure out what was wrong, Mikan started talking.

"Hello to you all! So did you have fun at the festival?" the student body cheered loudly and Mikan continued after smiling slightly. "Are you all ready to start partying then?" this was met with an even louder cheer then before, some people even whistled loudly. "Then let's all welcome the group 'Fantasma'!"

After Mikan disappeared backstage, colorful lights turned on to shine on the stage as a whole to show what had been hidden before in darkness. Four very different looking girls stood on stage, making a diamond with their formation. One in the back, two in the middle standing on opposite sides of each other, and one in the front middle.

The one in the far back was sitting behind drums with black drumsticks in hand. Her shining silver hair was cropped right above her shoulders and a plain purple mask with a light pink sakura flower painted on the side covered her face. She had on a long no-sleeve white hoodie with black tights and she had on black leather converse ankle boots.

The one in the middle standing to the right had spiky blonde hair and she was holding a teal guitar shaped like a butterfly. A plain deep sea blue mask with a purple sakura flower painted on the side also covered her face from being seen clearly. She had on a white tubetop that showed her belly with a long black vest on top. She also wore tights but hers were bright pink, very bright compared to her coal black platform boots.

Similar to the mask of the precious member, the girl standing in the middle to the left had straight dark blue hair that reached her waist. Her mask was a soft rose pink with a single black sakura painted on the side. She wore a black t-shirt that was see through with a short black tanktop underneath. Her tights were bright yellow and she had on simple black heeled boots. Her guitar was shaped like a flower and it was a nice shade of purple.

Lastly, the one standing ring in the front middle. Unlike the others, she was not holding an instrument, but a mike in her hand. The mike's accessories made it seem as if the microphone had wings. Her long pink hair was tied up in two high ponytails and she was wearing a loose cutoff tank top over a tight black tank top. She wore black shorts with white leggings underneath. Her white tights had designs of vines going all around her thighs. A black belt with silver hoops circled and hung loose on her petite waist. Unlike the others, her mask was a white cat mask without any sakura flowers on it. White cat ears on her head further enhanced her appearance of a cat.

"Are you ready to rock?" the one in the front shouted in to the mike with a big smile on her face. When the crowd screamed, she shouted, "Then what are we waiting for? And one, and two, and one, two, three, four!"

The band bursted into a popular english song that most teenagers already knew and continued for a good five minutes with the whole crowd singing along. When the song ended with the singer panting with a big smile on her face, the crowd cheered loudly.

"In order to give our leader here a few minutes to catch her breath, let me introduce ourselves." said the girl with the long blue hair. "My name is Sen and the one with the silver hair is our drummer, Min. The blondie over there is the other guitarist and her name is Nikkou. " As each of the girls were being introduced, they waved their hands at the crowd.

Before Sen could introduce their last member, she introduced herself. "Hello everybody! My name is Kage and I am the singer/ leader for our little group. Today's actually our first time performing in front of a crowd so I'm very hyped up. Just in case I look like I'm going crazy later, remember what I just said." she paused with a very big smile on her face. "Then let's get rocking!"

The band continuously went through many songs without anymore pauses. Little did the members know that there were two people in the crowd that weren't focused on the band as a whole, but solely on the singer. One pair of crimson eyes were filled with excitement while the other pair was filled with confusion.

_Natsume's POV_

From the first time she smiled, I knew right away that she was the girl I had been looking for this whole time. I thought I would never be able to see her again after that incident so long ago. The money she had given my sister and I had come in handy for the next few weeks after we had met her, keeping us both alive until we had been taken in by our current guardian.

I wonder if she remembers me at all. After all, the incident could have been memorable only for my sister and I. I'll have to find a way to talk to her before this party ends. Even if she doesn't remember, I need to thank her for her help.

Still, I never thought that we would be able to meet each other again this way. Who would have expected her to become the lead singer for the group that would be performing at my school?

_End of P. O. V._

Kage continued to sing while smiling brightly as Natsume stared at her the whole time. It appears that she didn't think his deep staring to be creepy at all for she smiled his way when she caught his eyes with her own. Natsume's eyes widened for a fraction of a second before returning the smile with his trademark smirk. No one noticed their silent smile exchange except for a single person whose eyes widened slightly.

_Aoi's P. O. V._

It can't be her. She can't be the girl that my brother and I met when we were little. I already found out who it was! Maybe this girl only has the same kind of smile. But then I could also say that Mikan san's smile is similar to the smile of the girl we met so long ago! This is so confusing, why can't things be just simple with only one person that I have to suspect!

What if the singer san's actually Mikan san in disguise? She could be the one singing up there! Wait, but I just saw Mikan san talking with Nogi san by the drink table...

Gyaaaah!

I really thought that Mikan san was the girl that we had been searching for such a long time... Then this singer comes along and my suspicions are thrown all over the place! But... it seems like this girl fits my memory more. She smiles alot and she's very cheerful. Just like my memory of the girl... Maybe this is her...

Oh my gosh! She just smiled at my brother! This must be her. I guess onii san recognized her too since he smirked back at her. He only gives that kind of friendly smirk to people that he likes.

I really need to find a way to talk to her before she leaves after the party.

_End of P. O. V._

Kage continued to sing without any ideas as to what the two people in the crowd were planning. The band seemed to be growing tired for their movements were not as flamboyant as it had been at the start of the show. Still, Kage continued to smile, even though it was a tired smile.

The end of the party came all too soon for most except for Natsume and Aoi. Their eyes gleamed with hidden anticipation at being able to meet the girl they had each been searching for in their own way.

Mikan limped on to the stage while using her crutches and stood beside Kage with a slight smile. "I know you all want the party to go on, but it's school rules that the party has to end before 1 a. m. I've tried to extend the time, but it's a school rule that I have no way of changing, so sadly all of you will have to go home now."

"Sorry folks, buy it seems like the prez has no control over this matter. But I've got to say that I'm glad to be going home. I wasn't really expecting myself to get this tired so easily. Even if we stayed, I don't think that we could have lasted even half an hour more. Well, I've always hated goodbyes so why don't I just say that I will be looking forward to seeing you guys at our next concert, where ever and whenever that may be... Good night everybody and get home safely!" said Kage with her bright smile still in place. No one in the crowd could resist smiling back at the friendly singer.

The band walked off the stage while waving their good byes to the crowd. When they were out of sight, Mikan started talking once again. "Well, everybody, have a nice weekend and I will see you all on Monday. Before you go though, I have some information that you might want to hear. Do you want to know the real identity of the band members?"

Every single person in the crowd shouted out their curiosity. Then with a smile that some might have called evil, Mikan said, "Every single member of the band is actually a Gakuen Alice student from the high school division. And that is all."

Against the protests of the crowd to know more, Mikan limped off the stage to show that she had no more information to give them. knowing that they would not be able to get anything else out from their president, the crowd wandered out the door to each go their own way. The student coulcil members closed the doors behind the last stragglers and left to go home so that they would be able to wake up early to come back and clean up the place on Saturday.


	8. Chapter 7: The Hunt

Woo hoo! I finally got around to finishing it and I am updating faster than I thought I would! Go Me! ... but then I have no idea when the next one wil be done T.T

Anyways, the story progresses with the search for the identity of the band members... Will anybody find out who they really are? WEll, read on to find out! :P

R&R if you wish, but it is not exactly a job, so don't worry if you don't want to .

* * *

><p>Chapter 7: The Hunt<p>

"Seriously mom, why did you have to tell them that the band members are actually our school students? I mean, not even Anna and Nonoko know that I'm Kage." said Mikan while pouting cutely, still dressed in the clothes that she had worn as Kage.

Hotaru smirked at her best friend and said, "Why not? She did you a favour by dressing up as you so that you can be yourself for once in front of other students, even if they don't really know that it's you. Also, it makes things more interesting and I bet I can get a lot of money selling hints about who the members are."

"But you're a member too! Do you want people to know that you're Sen?" whined Mikan.

The other person that was also in the car with them finally spoke up. "Mikan, loosen up. It's not like they're going to start suspecting that their student council president is the happy go lucky singer, Kage."

The woman that just spoke could have passed as Mikan's twin, dressed in casual clothing. She pulled off her brown wig as she smiled cheerfully at her daughter. Her hair was now short, spiky and blonde.

Mikan continued to pout slightly, but it was aimed at her mother this time. "Still... You could have asked me beforehand."

"Yeah, yeah. But where would the fun be in that? I want people to find out what my little girl is really like, is that so bad for a mother to wish for? Anyways, is your ankle really okay now? Just because you heal quickly doesn't mean that you can simply start walking like nothing happened after one day."

Mikan smiled at her mom in a reassuring way. "I didn't do all that training for nothing. I've been hurt worse before and you know it. I think that the best thing that came from training in the mountains with master is that I recover at a faster rate than most people. I don't really get why you want me to keep that a secret though. It's not like it's secret information that people can use against our family."

Yuka, Mikan's mom, winced slightly at her daughter's last sentence. She hid it quickly, but it was not lost on Hotaru who had been silently watching their exchange with interest. Oblivious as always when she was being her real self, Mikan missed the worried look in her mother's eyes as she turned towards her friend.

"You're going to sleep over today, right? I have this new plushie that daddy got for me on his latest trip. I think it actually reminds me of you. It's really cute!"

Hotaru pretended to ignore her friend as they continued to make their way towards the Sakura family's house.

* * *

><p>The next Monday<p>

After a very tiring day of smoothly trying to truthfully answer questions about the band members without giving herself away, Mikan was now lying down on one of the benches in the garden on the roof. How many different questions can people actually come up with about just one person? I bet I've been asked at least a hundred questions about each band member, she thought.

At the sound of the door opening, she looked up to see that nobody was there. Heightening all of her senses, she silently laughed to herself at how Natsume was a failure at hiding his presence. She could feel him watching her from behind a few trees. A smirk played across her lips as a sudden idea came to her mind about how to get rid of some of the stress she had built up that day.

* * *

><p>Seriously, how hard can it be to find such a loud and carefree person at school? was what I had thought this morning as I got out of my king sized bed. I put on my uniform with no worries at all about my plans for the day and I made sure to have my tie hanging loosely, but in a cool way as always before walking out of my room. After all, I couldn't let the maids see me with ironed clothes that didn't match my bad boy image.<p>

When I walked into the dining room, I was surprised to find Aoi was already eating her breakfast. Highly unusual, especially on a Monday.

"Where's the old man?" I asked her as one of the butlers brought me a plate of western style breakfast.

"Nii san, you know uncle Persona doesn't like you calling him that. Anyways, he went out to meet with the head of the family about something. Why do you ask?"

"Hnn. No reason. Why are you up so early today anyways? You usually sleep until you're almost late."

Aoi pouted at me and retorted, "I can wake up early if I want to you know!" She then grumbled to herself, "Stupid brother, thinking he should know everything that goes on in the house at all times. So annoying."

I smirked at her childishness and was suddenly reminded of the other girl that I would be searching for today. As I mechanically ate my food without really tasting it, I wondered if Aoi had recognized her too.

"Hey Nii san, about that lead singer at the party..." I couldn't help but smirk again at how she asked the question right on time. "Did you notice anything special about her?"

"Sorry, nope. Why? Should I have?"

"N-nothing at all. Absolutely nothing at all." my sister quickly said.

I felt slightly guilty about having lied about the girl, but if I found her today, then I wanted to be the first to talk to her. If I let Aoi know that I had an inkling about the female singer, then she would definitely ask to tag along to search since she can't get into the high school department regularly.

I finished my breakfast and went to my bathroom to brush my teeth, and made sure that my hair was messed up in just the right way before going to the car that was waiting for Aoi and I. I closed my eyes as I leaned against the seat and waited for my sister to come out.

I must have fallen asleep since when I opened my eyes again, Aoi was shaking me while the car had stopped in front of the school. We got out of the car and went our separate ways.

The day went by quickly with all of the students asking the student council members about the real identity of the 4 girls that had performed at the party. Hoping to get lucky, I hung around them to see if I could get any information, but to my annoyance, they kept their mouths tightly shut.

From many years of watching people, I could tell that the male members really had no idea who the girl band was, but tried to pretend that they weren't telling because they were not supposed to. On the other hand, the girls seemed to actually know something and from the whispers between Anna and Nonoko, it wasn't hard to tell that they were having a hard time keeping it a secret.

I got Anna alone after school when she was finally away from her boyfriend and almost twin Nonoko. She said that she knew who the guitarists and drummer were, but had no idea about the singer. I could tell that she was telling the truth since it seemed like she was also intent on finding out who the singer was. The only thing of interest that she told me was that the only person who might have any idea would be Mikan.

I seriously doubted she'd tell me anything since it seems that she finds my existence annoying. Even though she acts polite, I know that she hides her irritation behind her eyes.

After asking one of the many fans prez has, I walked up the stairs to the roof where Mikan is supposedly at. I still had my copy of the door key and I let myself in only to see that she was lying on a bench with her eyes closed. For some reason, I felt as if I was seeing something forbidden and I quickly hid my self behind a few trees. I had come in quietly as possible and only a few seconds passed during the time in which it took me to hide my self. I tried to hide my presence when I saw her sitting up to look at the door and smirked to myself as she went walking on the path in the other direction after shaking her head to herself. I guess all the lessons on sneaking actual paid off.

I slowly followed her at a safe distance while making sure to not make any noises. I saw her smiling softly as she looked down at the flowers and for a second I thought I saw something familiar about her smile. However, I didn't have much time to dwell on the thought since she just rounded the corner of the path. Trying not to lose sight of her, I followed at a safe distance.

When I looked around the corner though, there was nobody there. Surprised at the development, I stood still behind the trees while trying to see where she could have gone. She couldn't have moved on since the path was a dead end and she couldn't have walked back out since I was following her from behind. I continued to think of all sorts of things that could have happened in the few seconds that I had lost sight of her, hoping that none of them were true since they all involved some sort of kidnapping or ransom.

"Looking for someone?"

"Yeah, prez disappeared."

...

It took me a few seconds for me to realize that I had just talked to someone when there shouldn't have been anyone else on the roof other then Mikan and I. The voice sounded familiar too. I turned around to only be met with dark chocolate orbs that were only a few inches away from my face.

Startled, I jumped backwards and tripped over the root of the tree I had been hiding behind.

"Puhahaha! You should have seen your face just now, Hyuuga san! It was priceless!"

I scowled at the brown haired girl and growled at her which only made her laugh harder.

"How'd you get behind me! How'd you even know I was here?" I really was actually curious about how she had figured that out, but I didn't need to let her know that.

"Ahh. I actually knew from the moment you walked into the garden. You really do need to work on hiding your presence if you ever want to become a stalker, not that I'm encouraging you or anything. I felt like amusing myself for once at school and here we are with you on the ground." Mikan said with a slight smile on her face. Her laughter had finally died down while she was explaining to me.

I picked myself up from the ground and smirked as I said, "Just so you know, I was simply playing along with you to make you happy. I always knew where you were."

Her instant reply of a cool "Yeah right." made me scowl.

"You still haven't told me how you go behind me."

Putting a finger to her lips, she said, "Secret. I need a trick or two up my sleeves if you eve decide to try sneaking up on me again."

As we were walking back towards the direction of the door, she asked me, "Why did you come up here Hyuuga san?"

* * *

><p>Natsume gave a quick sideways glance at Mikan and looked forwards again. His eyes were serious even though a slight smirk still played across his lips. "Can you tell me who the lead singer was? She... might be someone I've been searching for a long time."<p>

Because Natsume was still facing forwards, he didn't see the slight flinch in her eyes when he asked his question. However, the caution in her eyes was replaced with curiosity at his later statement. There was a slight pause until it seemed that Mikan had come to a decision.

"I am absolutely sworn to secrecy about the identity of all the members. I'm sorry Hyuuga san, but I can not tell you who she is even if I did know. 'If I did' meaning that I do not know." Mikan hesitated before going on to ask, "Would you mind if I asked why you're searching for the girl? Is she your first love by any chance?"

The initial disappointment in Natsume's eyes at not having found out anything disappeared to be hidden by a look of playfulness. "Why? You jealous? Don't worry prez, I'll always make time for you if you want me."

Mikan gave him a look of incredulity and said in a matter of fact tone, "There is absolutely no reason for me to be jealous at all Hyuuga san. All I wanted to do was to help if I could, but if you do not wish to tell me, then I will not press on the matter."

"Wait", said Natsume while stopping her from opening the door to the stairs. He pulled her back towards the bench she had been lying on earlier and sat down.

Seeing that Natsume needed some time to think, Mikan sat down beside him. She closed her eyes to drink in all of the glorious smells wafting from the flowers.

"I met her when I was only seven years old so it's already been nine years since I last saw her." Mikan opened her eyes to look at him, only to find that he had closed his eyes.

"... My sister and I are actually adopted. We used to be orphans when we met her and we had run away from the orphanage that we were living in. She was lost and couldn't find her way back home since it was her first time being outside by herself. My sister and I decided to help her find her house since we knew the area pretty well. She surprised me though by acting friendly with us when we were very unkempt back then. When we reached her house, we found her mother looking for her and the girl went to hug her. I was actually pretty sad about having her go back home because she had told me that they would be moving out very soon. It had been a long time since I had been around someone my age other than Aoi and I had been hoping that we could become friends. But what made me really happy even with her moving away was that she didn't go in to her house with her mother right away. She came back to Aoi and I and gave us fifty dollars." Natsume let a soft laugh escape him as he said, "Seriously, who at the age of seven calls fifty dollars only a little? Well, anyways, the money came in handy for the time after that. Without it, we wouldn't have survived until the old man took us in after we met her. I guess she brought some luck into our lives after all. The reason why I want to find her is to tell her how thankful Aoi and I are for having helped us in our time of need without looking at us in disgust. I want to return the favour if I can. Haha, I have no idea why I'm telling you all this. After all, prez and I don't exactly know each other."

...

Natsume opened his eyes after a few minutes when there was nothing but silence. He had been expecting Mikan to say something after his story. He glanced her way only to see that she was very pale and that she was clutchig her head as if she was in pain. Alarmed, he asked, "Hey! Was my story that bad to listen to!"

Mikan didn't respond to anything he said and only clutched her head harder when he grabbed on to her shoulders. She gasped in pain while crouching forward on the ground. She had gotten off the bench without even noticing it.

"Are you all right? What's wrong? Come on, say something!" said Natsume in a worried voice.

"It... Feels... like my heads... going to split" she gasped out. Sweat was quickly forming on her forehead and her skin had lost all signs of colour.

Natsume tightened his hold on her shoulders as he said, "Let's get you to a hospital. I'll help you stand, so lean on me."

Mikan tried to get up, but suddenly she pitched forward and only Natsume's quick reactions kept her from hitting her face on the ground. Natsume turned her face around so that he could see it and found out she had passed out from the pain. He picked up her limp body and quickly made his way out the door.

* * *

><p>So what happened to Mikan? How will Natsume find the girl he's been seraching for his whole life?<p>

Read on to find out! (whe I finally publish that is... please be patient XD)


	9. Chapter 8: The Plot Continues

Yes! The longest chapter I've written so far!

I finally decided on this version after having rewritten it a few times... so I'm hoping that it's pretty good :P

Well,,,, I won't keep you for long. Just going to say that I will be MIA for 1-2 months so don't expect an immediate update. Now to get away from that depreesing news, read on to find out what happened! \(+~+)/

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 8: the plot continues<span>

_My head is pounding and it's all I can do to squint my eyes against the bright light. I reach for my head and massage my temple to try to help get rid of the pain, but I don't think its working. Sighing dejectedly, I force my eyes open and sit up, waiting a few moments for the dizziness to wear off. After I get used to the constant wave of nausea, I block out the pain and stand up to look around properly._

_From what I can make out through my hazy vision, the place seems to be empty or maybe even abandoned. There area a few pieces of paper on the ground, maybe old newspaper, but I'll have to get closer to get a clear look at it. I can make out the outline of boxes stacked like a pyramid on one side of the room and a few broken ones just lying around. Maybe I shouldn't call it a room, it's too big for that. As my vision steadily clears, I can see that the ceiling is pretty high up and that there is a metal door on the wall directly opposite from where I'm standing. Judging from appearance, I'm guessing I'm in some sort of old warehouse._

_Wondering how on earth I got here, I try to see if there are any other exits other than the metal door. Seeing as how the only other opening, a small window, was partially covered by a big box, I slowly made my way towards the door. I took each step carefully for I felt as if I would pitch forward any moment._

_As I reached out to see if the door would open, it suddenly swung inwards paralysing me with shock. Oh, it definitely wasn't shock at seeing two men with masks on the other side of the door. It was the feel of the door going through me, yes, I do mean **THROUGH ME**, which had me standing stock still. I stared without moving as the two started to walk in as if they hadn't seen me. Slightly coming out of my shock, I attempted to move aside and apologize for having crossed into someone else's property, even though I have no memories of how I got here. Before I could get out of their way though, they walked right through me without any signs of having felt my presence. It really is the weirdest feeling having things pass through you. Your brain tells you that you should be going through great pain, but your body feels as if nothing happened._

_Shaking myself out of my unnecessary musings, I walked after the two men, shouting random things as I went. A few examples of how weird I was being are, "Hey, you with the gloves! Are you really a man? Why do you have such girly earrings?" or "Yo fatty! Maybe you should go on a diet to lose some weight!". Now my second taunt is really out of place considering both of these men are really fit with well toned muscles._

_Sighing in annoyance, I walked right beside them and stared to get a closer look at their faces. Since apparently nobody could see me and I could walk through everything, I didn't have to worry about crashing into anything._

_The man walking slightly in front of the other man has black hair. A white mask covers the area surrounding his eyes and I can't really tell what his eye colour is since he is in front of me. However, from the slight glimpse I got earlier, I can tell that he has a handsome face, but full of coldness. He is wearing all black; back t-shirt that covers his lean, but strong-looking arms, black jeans with a black belt to hold it up and black shoes. If the colours are anything to go by, this guy has no appreciation for colours or anything bright or he just came from a funeral._

_The other man however, is not decked out in black. His mask is a dark purple and as I lean in, I can see light reflecting off his black eyes. A white shirt hugs his muscular arms and he is wearing blue jeans with black converse. His carefully styled dark brown hair looks as hard as stone and I am tempted to touch it and find out if it really is that hard._

_As the man in front stopped, I looked around at where we were now. We stood in one of the corner's of the warehouse and as I took in my surroundings, my gaze froze on a girl sitting on a chair. Her hands were tied behind her and her ankles were roped together. The clothes she wore were torn and bloody. Her pale skin was full of cuts and covered with bruises of all colours. The closer I walked towards her, the more shocked I was at her condition._

_The girl made a half-hearted attempt to lean away from the reaching hand of the man in black. Her bangs covered her eyes, but I knew that if I could see them, they would be the eyes of a broken person._

_The man tilted her face upwards and moved it from side to side. His actions were those of a person inspecting livestock on sale. Her only movement was a flinch when he caressed a cut that went down from her left ear to her chin. He moved her bangs away from her face and I stood in shock as I finally got a clear look of her face._

_No, this can't be. There is no way that this little girl is my past self. I have absolutely no memories of this happening…. but the closer I look at her eyes, the more I believe it. They are the exact same as mine, but they lack the emotions that I feel every day. Those eyes are empty and lifeless._

_"Well, well. It seems that you have finally broken. Care for another day of fun with me?" the black-haired man sneered as his friend just watched._

_Tears made their way down her face as she shook her head, causing both men to smirk. "Too bad. Until your parents do what we say, you will go through the same treatment everyday."_

_Laughing like a demon, he slapped her across her face. The force was so great that she was knocked out of her chair. The second man kicked her in the stomach while cursing her about how her parents were idiots ad that they didn't love her._

_I screamed my heart out while trying to stop the two men, but every time I hit them, my fists went through their bodies. Crying uncontrollably, all I could do was watch and scream until the pain in my head became too much and I fell into a pit of darkness._

* * *

><p>"Mikan! Mikan! Wake up!" shouted Hotaru while trying to shake her thrashing best friend awake.<p>

Mikan had been lying unconscious for the past 6 hours without any movements until now. She had started screaming while sobbing hysterically only a few moments ago and already her bed was a mess. Mikan's outburst stopped just as suddenly as it had started and the room was deathly silent once more.

Hotaru repositioned the pillow beneath Mikan's head and pulled the covers back up. As she was wiping away the tears on Mikan's face, a knock sounded on the bedroom door. Yuka poked in her worried face and sighed in relief when Hotaru gave her a reassuring nod. Making sure that Mikan was sleeping peacefully once more, Hotaru made her way out of the room.

Yuka closed the door shut then asked, "Is she alright? What was all that screaming?"

"I don't know. She didn't wake up, but she moved around quite a lot before settling down. Since my brother said that there's nothing to worry about, I guess she's fine." stated Hotaru in her usual emotionless voice. However, the worry in her eyes was evident.

"You don't think she was dreaming about **_that_**, do you? She's never remembered –"

Yuka's voiced worries were cut off as the door to Mikan's sitting room opened. A nervous looking maid walked in and bowed. "Yuka sama, Hyuuga sama would like to speak to you."

Sharing a look with Hotaru, Yuka replied, "Take him to my study and tell Hyuuga san that I'll be there shortly."

"Yes Yuka sama. As you wish." said the maid as she bowed once more and backed out of the room, closing the door behind her.

Yuka asked in a worried voice, "What could he possibly want to talk about?"

"I don't know, but I'll go with you just in case Auntie. Before you say anything, I'm leaving one of my robots to watch over her so there's no need to worry." Hotaru assured Yuka.

* * *

><p>"Hyuuga sama , Yuka sama wishes for you to wait in her study." said the maid while stealing quick glances at the crimson eyed boy.<p>

"Hn."

"If you could just follow me."

The maid led Natsume towards an impressive looking door and opened it for him. "Yuka sama will be here shortly."

The door softly closed behind Natsume. He was in a room with many shelves lining the walls. Most of these shelves were filled with books, but in a few empty places stood family pictures. It was towards one of these that Natsume made his way.

* * *

><p>When Hotaru and Yuka walked in, the first thing they saw was Natsume sitting on one of the sofas. He seemed to be deep in thought and didn't notice their presence until Hotaru stated in monotone, "Hyuuga."<p>

As he looked their way, he seemed to have come to a decision. He stood up and said, "Thank you Mrs. Sakura for meeting me."

Yuka smiled at her guest and said, "I hope that everything is to your comfort? If you wish, you can always use one of the other rooms. I'm glad to see that the pyjamas are also a perfect fit.

He smirked as he gave a quick glance to what he was wearing, a set of black silk pyjamas with a dressing gown to match. However, his face took on a serious look in mere moments. In a low tone, he said, "I need to know what happened to prez."

"What do you mean what happened to her? The doctor already said that my daughter is fine and that she should wake up soon. Aren't you the one that was there when she fainted?" Yuka asked in confusion.

Hotaru stared at Natsume, analyzing his tone and his facial expression. She had already guessed what he was asking about, but had no idea of how he knew. She stayed silent to see what else he knew, but she definitely wasn't expecting what came next.

"How did she lose her memories?"

There was a sudden intake of air from where Yuka was standing and she turned her head sharply to look at Hotaru.

Hotaru's eyes widened only for a split second, making Natsume wonder if she had even been shocked at all. However, her mind was in turmoil even though her expression never changed.

"Hyuuga, why do you even think that she has lost her memories? Even though she may be an idiot, she doesn't have short-term memory loss."

Natsume smirked as he said, "Hn, I wouldn't be surprised if she did." His tone turned serious though, when he continued. "You know what I'm talking about, Imai. Why does she not remember anything about her childhood?"

Before Hotaru could say anything at all, Yuka pulled her so that she now stood in front of Hotaru. Natsume raised an eyebrow at this sudden action, but didn't remark about it.

"How in the world would you know that?" Yuka hissed.

If he was surprised, he didn't show it. He said in a matter-of-fact tone, "I met her 8 years ago before she moved out of that house with ivy on the walls and 2 towers."

A look of uncertainty crept across her face as she said, "Still, how can I just take your word for it? Give me proof."

Natsume sighed at her unwillingness to believe him and he began to think that he'd be held for questioning if he couldn't prove anything soon. "I don't have anything to back up my story. All she gave me was some money and a ring."

"Show me the ring."

"Pardon?" he asked in slight bewilderment.

"Show me the ring," she repeated. Her eyes were full of anticipation and something else that Hotaru couldn't name. She had finally been able to get out of Yuka's surprisingly strong hold. Hotaru stared at Natsume as he stayed still with a blank face. She could still tell though that he was debating within himself for his jaw clenched just the slightest bit.

A few seconds passed before Natsume pulled out a silver chain from beneath his pyjama top. He unclasped it from the back and held it out to Yuka. A single silver ring dangled from its' end, shining brightly as light reflected off of it.

Yuka reached out hesitantly and took the necklace from him. She held the ring closely to her eye. With each second that passed, the tension in the room grew. Natsume watched as she examined the ring from every angle and tried not to let his nervousness show. He had been in life-threatening situations that had been easier to deal with than this.

A small smile could be seen on her face as she looked at the ring with a loving gaze. Her heart filled with happy memories of the past, before **THAT** happened.

**_-Flashback-_**

Mikan was playing alone with the snow in the garden when she heard her mother calling for her. She clumsily ran back indoors through the back door and into the kitchen. Her mother was waiting for her with a big smile on her face and it grew, if that's possible, when she saw her daughter.

"Sweetie, do you know what day it is?" Yuka asked.

"My birthday!" she replied with a smile.

As she helped Mikan take off her coat, Yuka asked, "You know how daddy said he couldn't make it? Well, guess who's in your room right now!"

Mikan ran through the hall, past all the smiling servants and up the stairs to her room. Without stopping, she jumped into the waiting arms of the brown-haired man while crying out, "Daddy!"

"Happy birthday sweetie. Did you have a party with Hotaru chan yet?"

"Not yet daddy. She's coming over later. We're going to have cake!" Looking up at her father, she added, "You should come too!"

"I will sweetie. But I have a present for you before your party." He pulled out a small box from his pants pocket and held it out to her. The box was wrapped with silver wrapping paper and it was decorated with a light pink ribbon.

Mikan squealed with delight as she took the box from him. Very carefully she took both the ribbon and wrapping paper off and placed them on the floor beside her. She opened the box to find two silver rings nestled on some stuffing. Breathlessly she pulled one out and traced each engraved sakura petal with her small finger. After giving her father a big thank you hug, she went back to looking at her ring.

Izumi stood up and went to stand beside Yuka, winding an arm around her waist. They gazed at their daughter adoringly as they stood in the doorway.

**_-Flashback End-_**

"I'm sorry Hyuuga san for having been suspicious, but who can blame an overprotective mother?" Yuka jokingly said as she handed the ring necklace back to him. "Cherish it and keep it safe for Mikan's sake." At Hotaru's searching gaze, she said, "It was a birthday present for Mikan when she was younger. It's the only one in the world except for its' partner. After all, I'm the one that designed it for my husband. He wanted it to be special."

Natsume coughed slightly to bring Yuka out of her daydream about her husband. "Actually, my sister has the other pair. She doesn't know yet that prez is the one who gave it to us."

"Hyuuga. You still haven't explained how you met her." Hotaru said impassively.

Smirking, he said, "I have no need to tell you."

"Then we have no need to tell you about why or how she lost her memories." Hotaru replied. She gave a certain 'look' to Yuka so that she wouldn't start saying that it's fine to tell him everything. She would never let that happen on her watch. Information always comes at a price.

When neither Hotaru or Yuka said anything, Natsume knew that he wouldn't be able to get what he wanted without giving something away. Knowing that he wouldn't be able to rest until he found out everything, he sat down to tell the same story he had already told Mikan.

**_-A While Later-_**

Natsume had finished telling his story a few seconds ago and silence filled the room. Hotaru had already filed away the information somewhere in her mind, to be kept for later use, if not for blackmailing. She now sat primly with a face that gave nothing away of her evil plans. Yuka suddenly leaned forward from her seat and gave him a hug. He sat frozen for a few seconds before uncertainly hugging her back. When Yuka finally pulled away, there were tear tracks down her face.

Wiping away the last of her tears, she said, "I knew you mother. She was my beloved senpai from school. We lost contact after she graduated so I didn't know she got married, yet alone had children. Now that I look at you I can see that you have your mother's eyes… You're welcome here anytime Natsume kun."

"Thank you Mrs. Sakura."

"Don't call me Mrs. Sakura! Call me Auntie just like Hotaru chan here does." she insisted.

Natsume said in a neutral voice, " Ok then, Auntie it is. Then Auntie… how did prez lose her memories? Imai said that I'd only find out after I tell my story and I've kept my side of the bargain, maybe you should keep yours, Imai." He ended off with a pointed glare at Hotaru.

Hotaru smirked at him slightly and replied, "I don't mind telling you, but it really isn't my story to tell." She gave a blunt look towards Yuka.

"It's fine. Why don't you go watch over Mikan while I talk with Natsume kun?" Yuka suggested with a slight smile. She knew that Hotaru had a hard time whenever Mikan's past came up and didn't want to add anymore unhappiness to Hotaru's life.

Hotaru waited a few seconds before making her decision. "Fine, but if this idiot is being annoying, then send one of the maids to me. I'll make sure that someone else is watching the other idiot before coming over to knock out this idiot."

Yuka's eyes were full of laughter as she gently pushed Hotaru towards the door. 'Don't worry, I'll make sure to do that. Still, I don't think Natsume kun is the annoying type Hotaru chan."

"You never know about people, you should know that the best Auntie." She said before finally letting the door close behind her.

Natsume didn't miss the short look of pain that crossed Yuka's eyes before it was gone. He wondered what Imai's remark had actually meant, but didn't ask.

Yuka sat back down and said, "I'm going to call for some midnight snacks since the story may take a while. We'll begin after the maid brings the food." She then picked up the phone on the coffee table in front of her and pressed a few numbers. "Hello? Sorry for the disturbance at night, but can you send up some midnight snacks to my study? Thank you."

They waited in silence until the arrival of the maid, each deep in their own thoughts. The maid walked in while pushing a trolley laden with numerous plates of small snacks, every single one of them looking scrumptious. After serving them a few snacks of their choices, the maid left the room with a bow.

Natsume waited for Yuka to start, not minding how long it took. His face showed nothing of what he might have been feeling inside.

Yuka finally began to talk and it was evident that she was still not fully prepared even with all the time that she had had. "It… it happened almost right after we moved into our new house. All of the servants had their hands full with cleaning and making sure that everything was in the right place… resulting in no one watching over her. My husband and I were both out at the time for an important business meeting so we didn't find out until it was too late." She exhaled deeply. "From all the cameras that we had situated around the house, we found out later that all the guards at the gate had been knocked out with gas. The kidnapper drove in and nobody noticed because all the security was either out with us or unconscious from inhaling the gas. It took less than 10 minutes for the man to drive in, drug her and drive out again! My husband and I were contacted by the servants as soon as they found out that Mikan wasn't anywhere on the grounds. We came back as fast as we could and we were contacted soon after by the one that was going to negotiate with us for the return of our daughter."

She strangled a cushion in a death grip. "He wanted us to hand over the data of the experimental research that we had been doing in labs as a side project. We should have never started the experiments to begin with. Humans are meant to die.

Natsume wondered what the project was and apparently he hadn't done a very good job of hiding his curiosity for after Yuka took one look at him, she said, "I got the foolish idea in my head that a new kind of medicine could be created that would let people live forever. I was able to get my hands on some stones that had just been found and they contained minerals that could help lengthen a person's life span. An added bonus was that your outer appearance grew slightly younger every time you took the medicine. It was kept a secret from many and only a very few trusted people and researchers were allowed to know. Between the people who knew, the stone became to be called Alice stones."

"Then the one who kidnapped her was also one of those few trusted people?"It was more of a statement than a question.

"Yes." Yuka smiled sadly. "He was both an employee and an old friend of ours and he had known my husband for a very long time before I ever met him. When we found out that he was the one that had leaked the information and planned out the whole kidnapping of our daughter, we were heartbroken from the betrayal. However, we foolishly held the hope that since it was him, Mikan would at least remain unharmed… how wrong we were." Silent tears slid down her face only to be wiped away angrily. "He actually let them torture her! Him! The boy that my husband had known since he was a teenager. And it was all because he had fallen under the influence of that stupid man that wanted to live forever. He foolishly believed all the lies that man fed him. I mean, why in the world would Izumi, my husband, use him for our own personal use? Izumi loved him like a little brother! …I think he still loves him, even after everything he's done to us!"

Yuka took a few sips of tea to calm herself down. 'Anyways, we had to agree to they demands; otherwise, they would continue to hurt Mikan and we would never get her back. Both sides agreed to meet and the agreement was that we would hand over all information while they gave us back our daughter. However, we knew that if the data actually got into their hands, then it would end with all of Japan being in danger. That's why the majority of the group left decided to destroy all the data we gathered from experiments and to hand over fake information."

The calming affects of the tea had apparently already worn off for she was unconsciously tearing the cushion again. "When we got her back, her eyes were void of any emotion. Her body was all battered and she had cuts and bruises all over her. No matter what we did, she couldn't or wouldn't recognize us. We didn't let her out of the house for a few months after that because we knew that they would come after her again once they figured out that the information we gave them was all fake. During those months, she rarely came out of her room and never responded to anything anyone in the household did. She didn't cry, smile, shout or get angry. She was just like a lifeless doll." Yuka's eyes widened in surprise when she found the cushion in pieces and the stuffing all over the place. "They came after her many times, but they always failed, always leaving empty handed. Their attacks lessened around the time that Mikan finally started showing emotions again, which was about a year after the incident. As soon as she was emotionally stable, we tracked down the best martial artists in the world and paid them to teach her everything they knew. Now, she is one of the strongest and can disable others in a matter of a few seconds. Once her strength was known, all attempts on her immediately ceased, apparently the desire for the information would have to wait unless they could find somebody able to beat her."

Natsume remained quiet for a few minutes until something came across his mind. "Does she not smile like she used to before?" He looked towards the picture he had been staring at when he had come into the room. It was a family photo taken at an amusement park. Izumi and Yuka both looked younger and Mikan had her hair in two pigtails with a big cheery smile on her face.

"You'll have to ask her yourself." Was the only reply he got out of the woman smiling deviously in front of him. "Well then, it's already quite late, so we should all get some sleep." She stood up and made her way towards the door. "I hope you sleep well Natsume kun. Good night."

The door closed behind her with a click, leaving a smirking Natsume already planning out what his next course of actions should be in answer to the challenge she had just given him.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Just in case it was a bit unclear, the challenge is for him to find out if Mikan can still smile like she use to. (I wonder if any of you have realized that he hasn't connected her to Kage just yet... XD)

P.S. *grins* I never actually said who betrayed the Sakura's and who it was that influenced him! Just saying so that there is no confusion in later chapters.

P.P.S. It would be greatly appreciated if you could tell me if I have made any grammatical or spelling errors. ThAnX !


	10. Chapter 9: Hook, Bait and Sinker

Hey everybody!

So I know I said that I'd be MIA for a while (and I have been), but I updated sooner than I thought. Since I am currently writing a chapter for a different fic that I'm doing with my friends, it'll most likely be a while before I update again. 3 Hoping this longer than usual chapter will make up for the wait...

Well, I won't keep you any longer, so read on!

P.S. R&R if you have time :)

* * *

><p>Chapter 9: Hook, Bait and Sinker<p>

Mikan woke up to the continuous pounding of her head. She brought her hands up and held her head in them while closing her eyes tightly, willing the pain to go away and leave her alone. After a few moments with no change in her condition, she sighed and attempted to sit up. When she had finally propped herself up, she saw that she was not alone in the room.

Hotaru was sitting in a chair beside Mikan's bed, her head cradled in her arms as she rested on the bed. Mikan smiled at the rare sight of her friend with her guard down. She looked so peaceful and without worry that Mikan couldn't help but gently push strands of black hair away from Hotaru's face, trying not to wake her. However, Hotaru, being a light sleeper, felt the touch and stirred.

She blinked her eyes a few times to get rid of her remaining sleepiness, only to be met with the cheerful smiling face of Mikan. All traces of sleep gone, Hotaru's face was once again impassive.

"Morning Hotaru!" said Mikan cheerfully, forgetting all about the headache that she had been complaining to herself only a few seconds ago.

Without missing a beat, Hotaru glared at her friend and quickly whacked her over the head. "Baka. You had me worried."

The whack had hurt less than a shot from the baka gun, so it didn't really bring out a reaction from Mikan except for a short rub at the spot she had been hit. Her smile stayed in place, but now it held a hint of confusion. "What'd I do? What happened yesterday anyways? The last thing I remember is talking with Hyuuga san."

"You really don't remember anything at all."

"I just told you; I don't." Mikan whined, receiving another whack on the head.

Hotaru smirked as Mikan rubbed her head once more. "Whining is very unbefitting of you, but you still do it anyways. You're not a kid anymore you know?"

"Who cares? I'll always be a kid at heart."

Having had to get used to her childish behaviour over time, Hotaru simply sighed. "You fainted on the roof while talking to Hyuuga. He found me and we brought you back home. You've been asleep since then."

"Really? Then that's probably why I've got a massive headache right now…Hey Hotaru, can you ask Subaru-nii for some headache medicine?" She asked, flashing Hotaru her irresistible puppy eyes.

Hotaru didn't answer her question. Instead, she reached towards the bedside table to grab hold of the cup of water and packet of pills sitting on it. She handed the water over and popped out two pills, handing those over also.

Mikan gulped them down quickly, finishing off the cup of water. She hadn't realized until now how thirsty she had been. "Thanks Hotaru! You're the best!"

"Of course I am. We can't have it any other way, can we?" She stated, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world (which it was for her).

Mikan just shook her head at her friend's way of thinking.

"What were you dreaming about while you were sleeping?" Hotaru asked.

Before Mikan could reply, the door to her bedroom flew open and her mother ran in, hugging her tightly. So tightly that Mikan felt like she was going to faint again, but from lack of air this time. She smiled gratefully at Hotaru when she pulled her mother away from her.

"Mi-chan! You had me worried all night! Don't you ever do that again!" Yuka cried out.

"But Mom! It's not like I wanted to get sick. I'd rather not wake up to such a bad headache again." Mikan replied with a pout. She scooted over slightly so that her mom could sit at the edge of her bed.

Yuka hugged her daughter again, but with much less force than before. "Ok, ok. If you're feeling up to it, why don't we go down to eat breakfast? Natsume kun's probably already finished eating."

"Sure! Let me just get changed." Mikan agreed eagerly, hopping right out of her bed with no sign of illness. Chanting in a singsong voice, she drifted over to her closet. "Breakfast, breakfast, I'm going to go eat breakfast."

Hotaru knew right away that Mikan had tuned out everything after the mention of food. Instead of telling her friend that Hyuuga was actually still here, she waited to see what sort of entertainment it would provide.

Mikan pulled on a light pink dressing gown and tied it around the waist. She pulled her hair back into a neat ponytail and went to her washroom to get cleaned up a bit.

Yuka turned towards Hotaru as soon as the bathroom door was closed and said with a playful smile, "You don't think she's going to go out like that since Hyuuga kun's here, do you?"

"Let's just wait and see Auntie." A scheming smirk could be clearly seen on her face.

Mikan walked out of the bathroom while wiping her face. She hung the towel over one of chairs in her room and smiled happily at her mom and herfriend.

"What are we waiting here for? Let's go eat! I'm starving!"

Yuka was the first to walk in to the dining room, with Hotaru and Mikan close behind her. Mikan had already switched her persona to the one she used at school so her face held an expression that was almost identical to the one Hotaru was wearing, but with a slight bit more emotion. When Yuka saw Natsume already close to being finished eating, she stood just so that she blocked Mikan's view of him.

"Good morning Auntie." Natsume said when he saw her entering.

Yuka smile at her newfound favourite sempai's son and replied, "Good morning to you too. I hope you slept well."

"Yes, I did. Thank you for asking Auntie."

The whole time the conversation had been going on, Mikan was busy wondering who it was her mother was talking to. She could tell right away that the other speaker was a male from his low voice. However, the only guy that she knew who called her mother 'Auntie' was her cousin Youichi, and nobody had said anything about him visiting. Unable to contain her curiosity anymore, she took a peek around her mother's head (they're the same height) to see who she was talking to. When she saw who it was, she quickly hid behind her mother again.

Mikan's mind was in turmoil. _Why is Hyuuga kun here? Why's he calling mom 'Auntie"? Why didn't anybody tell meeeeee?_

Hotaru smirked as she looked at the confusion on her friend's face. Even though her mask was still in place, Hotaru could read her friend like a book by looking at her eyes. After all, they'd been friends since they were babies.

"Ah yes, Natsume kun, Mikan's finally awake now. Why don't you say hi?" Yuka asked, hoping that Mikan wouldn't get mad at her later. She moved to the side slightly to expose Mikan who was currently facing the other way, trying to figure out what to do in this kind of situation. She really regretted not changing out of her pyjamas now.

Inwardly she took a deep, deep breath and turned around with her mask as a shield. "Good morning Hyuuga san. I heard from Hotaru that you were a big help yesterday. Thank you for all your help. There's one thing I'd like to ask you though, why are you here?

Natsume smirked at Mikan and pointed to Hotaru and Yuka. "Why don't you ask them?"

Mikan turned to Hotaru with a demanding look/ glare. Her eyes told Hotaru that she wouldn't be getting any big supplies of crab brain soon unless she answered. "He drove us here and he stayed to see if you would be alright. Auntie thought it'd be best if he just stayed over for the night." She finished in her usual monotone voice.

Mikan wasn't really surprised. Knowing her mother, she should have already expected this. With a barely audible sigh, she turned back to look at Natsume, who had finished his meal. "Well, I guess I'll have to say thank you again then. Sorry for all the trouble that you had to go through."

Natsume was now looking at her with this gaze that she couldn't quite undestand. The smirk he gave her next made her feel as if she should run out of the room to somewhere he wouldn't find her. "If you're really sorry, can you do me a favour?"

"What sort of favour would this be?" She asked, a feeling of dread creeping up on her. The need to run away was still very high, but she forced herself to sit down at the table beside Hotaru, who was already eating.

"Go on a date with me."

Mikan almost spat out the sip of orange juice that she had just taken and had to visibly make an effort to make sure that it went down. Natsume's smirk grew wider, if that was even possible.

"Excuse me? Could you please repeat that Hyuuga san?"

"I said go on a date with me." A few seconds passed before he added, "Polka."

She was absolutely confused. He was asking her to go on a date? Why? How would that make up for anything? She had never expected anything of this sort and thus, she had no ready reply to give. Mikan was brought out of her daze when someone stated, "She'll go."

Mikan turned towards the said person and stared into emotionless, amethyst eyes. "Pardon?"

"Didn't you hear me, baka? I said you're going on the date with him." Hotaru stated a-matter-of-factly while finishing up her soup and moving onto her omelette.

"Then it's decided. Meet me after school today at the garden by 4 and make sure to bring non-uniform clothing that you can change into." Natsume then looked towards Yuka who was watching the whole thing with an amused smile on her face. "I'll be leaving then Auntie."

"Of course Natsume kun. Come visit whenever you have time and bring your sister with you. I would like to meet her as well." Yuka smiled and watched him leave. She turned away when she saw one of the butlers bringing him his car keys.

Mikan still hadn't quite grasped the fact what had just happened, but she hadn't exactly reverted to her real self, who would most definitely be freaking out very loudly right now. Hotaru was watching her friend calmly as she primly ate her omelette bite by bite. She was enjoying the silent show too much to bring her friend back to reality. She sighed in disappointment when Yuka finally shook her daughter's shoulders to grab her attention.

"Oh. Hey mom…did Hotaru just agree in my stead that I'm going to go on a date with Hyuuga san today after school?" Mikan asked with a blank look.

"Yes, she just did. Now eat your breakfast Mikan." Yuka said as she dipped a piece of toast into her soup.

Mikan picked up her spoon to start eating as well. "Oh. Okay. Just checking."

Nothing else was said after that and the two girls left for school soon after. Yuka waved goodbye as they drove away, glad that Mikan had regained some of her senses. If Mikan had known what sort of plans her friend was scheming in her mind, then she would most likely have blanked out again.

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Natsume's POV

I have no idea why I asked her to go on a date with me in the first place; it must have been an instinct thing. However, all of my misgivings disappeared the moment I saw her shocked face. Really, I had to make an effort to not laugh outright at her. Unable to contain myself any further, I left as soon as Imai agreed to the date for prez. I made sure to hold in my amusement until I was back in my car; it wouldn't do to have my perfect image that I'd worked so hard for go to ruin just because one of the servants saw me laughing like a mad man.

End POV

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The day went by quickly for Mikan as she tried to push away all thoughts about her after-school date. She focused more than usual during classes and tried to ignore the crimson-eyed teen sitting right beside her. It didn't really help that he was smirking throughout the whole day, even during lunch time. She ate her lunch as fast as she could and hid herself in the student council room until the bell rang for the beginning of afternoon classes. Subconsciously, she marvelled at how she had been able to get so much work done, equivalent to that of how much she would have finished in a week of when she was being a bit laid back.

Mikan continued to go through her classes unfeelingly and responded mechanically to others. The time flew by, too quickly for Mikan's liking, and it was already 2:45, the end of school. As all of her classmates left for home or club activities, she responded to their goodbyes solely out of habit.

She went back to the student council room with the rest of the members, Natsume having disappeared some time ago. Her more-than-usual stoicalness must not have gone unnoticed, for she could sense Anna and Nonoko giving her worried looks.

Mikan immersed herself in her work so that the others wouldn't try to ask her questions she didn't really know how to answer. She relaxed as the everyday chatter of her friends enveloped her. She was able to forget all about her later meeting until Hotaru gave her a meaningful look. Mikan sighed as she said her goodbyes and left the room full of questioning looks. She couldn't really blame them for she was the one that usually left last.

She walked through the quiet hallways, her footsteps echoing in the silence. Mikan paused in front of the roof door before pulling out her key and walking in.

Natsume was already waiting for her at the bench that they had talked on before. His eyes were closed with headphones covering his ears and Mikan took a moment to actually look at him. She'd never bothered before, what with him doing all the staring, but now that he wasn't, she took a moment to just take it all in. Her eyes travelled up from his well worn black converse to the black skinny jeans that hugged his legs perfectly. She found that he could even make a normal t-shirt paired with a simple black leather jacket look very stylish. Her eyes roamed over his messy black locks and she, for some reason, felt the urge to run her fingers through them. Traveling down a bit, her chocolate orbs were met with crimson ones... _wait a second. Crimson orbs?  
><em>  
>"Enjoying what you see?"<p>

Mikan blushed the slightest tint of red as she diverted her gaze. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"I'm sure you don't." Natsume stood up while pulling down his headphones so that they hung loosely around his neck. "You haven't changed yet?"

"No. Sorry, but I forgot to bring a change of clothes. Would it be fine with you if we go out another time?" Although her face didn't show it, inwardly she was hoping that he would say "yes".

He smirked as he picked up a shopping bag from the bench and Mikan wondered how she could have missed it before. When he held it out, she looked from the bag to his face. One of her eyebrows rose in a questioning way. "And what am I suppose to do with that?"

"Imai gave it to me. For you." The bag continued to dangle from his hands. Her hands stayed beside her for a few more seconds until he finally grabbed one and dropped the handle on to it. "Change into those so that we can go."

Natsume sat back down and resumed listening to whatever he had been listening to before. Sighing heavily, Mikan turned and exited the garden to find a place to change.

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><p>.<p>

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When he heard the door open, he waited a moment before opening his eyes. She wasn't looking at him just yet, so he observed her, appreciating and approving of everything he saw. He liked the way her tank-top hugged just the right curves and how her legs were elongated by her shorts.

Mikan must have felt his intense gaze for she turned around, making her light camisole flutter slightly. This time, she was the one to smirk. "If you're done staring, we can go now."

Natsume stood up and said "Let's go."

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><p>.<p>

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Mikan wondered exactly what Natsume had planned for the day. They'd been driving in silence (well, he was driving while she was sitting shotgun) for a while now and all she knew was that they were somewhere in the city. Their surroundings were unfamiliar to her and the only people she could see outside were couples. Couples walking on the sidewalks holding hands, couples going in and out of small boutiques, and couples buying food from kiosks and sharing them between each other; wherever Natsume was taking her was clearly a hot spot for couples to be.

She had been so busy staring out of the window that she hadn't noticed Natsume parking the car. When he got out from his side of the car and walked around the front to open her door, she observed that he could actually be a gentleman. Shockingly. Mikan took the hand he offered her and stepped out of the car. She looked around her surroundings as he locked his car. When he took her elbow to guide her, she glanced at him to see that he was looking away from her.

Natsume led her to a small, cutesy cafe. The cool air washed over their faces as they stepped in to be greeted by a waiter. They were led to a slightly secluded corner and were left alone after they had each been given a menu.

"You can order whatever you want." He muttered, almost too low for her to hear.

Mikan read over the whole menu, but something still seemed to be stopping her from choosing what she wanted. "You don't want anything?" Natsume asked, causing her to look up from the menu.

She took a few seconds to figure out just how she should answer that question. "Well, Hyuuga san, the thing is…. Aren't all the things on the menu a bit too, for the lack of a better word, too cutesy? I mean, what's with 'Bun Bun Strawberry Shortcake Delight'? Wouldn't it be more practical to just call it 'Strawberry Shortcake'? It would also lessen the printing costs."

Natsume smirked at her odd reply. "I thought girls liked cute things?"

"Most do, but I don't consider myself one of them. If you haven't noticed yet, I'm known at school for not being into cute or sweet things. It goes together with my personality after all."

One of his eyebrows rose, disappearing into the midst of his bangs. "You could be pretending. I bet you actually really like girly things."

Something flashed in her eyes before quickly disappearing without a trace."I don't believe I've ever given you any reason to think that I might be pretending." Mikan replied calmly.

"Yes, yes. None whatsoever. Waiter, we would like to order now." He turned back from where he had been motioning for the waiter and looked at her. "I hope you don't mind if I order for the both of us."

Mikan closed her menu and pushed it away. "Go ahead; I don't have any idea of what I should order anyways."

As Natsume ordered , Mikan looked around the café. She hadn't really had a chance to see the interior while talking and she was curious as to what kind of place Natsume had brought her to. With every single lacy cloth she found decorating a table, she wanted to gush out loud over its gorgeousness. And with every single doll, she felt like rushing over and glomping them, just like the ones she did at home (in secret of course). Sadly, she had to control herself since she was sitting across from someone who didn't know her secret.

Unknown to Mikan, Natsume had finished ordering long ago and was now simply sitting quietly while observing her. He saw how her eyes brightened when she gaze landed on the girly table cloths and how a smile grew the tiniest bit when she found the dolls sitting around the café.

Natsume got the feeling that he'd be winning the challenge that he had accepted just yesterday night by the end of the day.

Both of their individual observations were cut short with the arrival of their food.

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><p>.<p>

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Mikan was feeling very hyper inside, although she wasn't being very obvious. Even though she didn't show it on the outside, little Mikans were jumping up and down within her mind. The cake that Natsume had ordered had been so cute and delicious that she had been on the verge of squealing all over it. Somehow, she had kept herself in check.

Now they were walking down the sidewalk and her hand had, for some reason, found its way into his without her noticing. She wondered who had been the one to take hold of the other first. A slight tug on her hand brought her out of her musing and she glanced up to be met with crimson orbs. He pointed to the store behind him and said, "This is our next stop."

She looked past his shoulder at the door decorated with all the cutest things possible. Her eyes wandered over to the windows to see all kinds of dolls imaginable filling up the shelves inside. "Is this a doll shop?" She asked slowly, unsure as to whether her eyes were playing tricks on her or not.

"What else would it be?" He shot back, with his ever-present smirk in place. He tightened his hold on her hand, just in case she tried to run away, and opened the door with a push.

The bells on top of the door jingled as they stepped into the world of dolls. They were surrounded by dolls from all over the world: traditional japanese dolls, teddy bears, puppets and so on. Mikan's eyes were wide, from shock or happiness he couldn't really tell. However, when she was the one to move towards a stand holding teddy bears for all occasions, he knew that he was closer to his goal of seeing her real smile.

Mikan let go of his hand to reach out and take a black teddy bear from the shelf. She gazed into its' red eyes and realized that it greatly reminded her of the boy standing next to her. Holding it up to his face she said, "This one looks like you, Hyuuga san."

He watched with interest as she continued to look through each and every one of the dolls, her previous hesitation forgotten. Even though she had said she didn't like cute things, here she was, in a store that was the epitome of cuteness. Natsume wondered if she had realized just yet that her words and actions were contradicting each other.

Mikan didn't squeal even once during their stay in the store (an hour and 30 minutes), much to Natsume's disappointment. He had been hoping that she would start smiling hugely, but his wish had been too great. When they finally walked out, Mikan was holding the black bear that she had seen in the beginning. Natsume had bought it while she had been on the other side of the store and now she had no choice but to accept the teddy bear as a gift.

Their hands found each others once again as they walked back towards Natsume's car in a comfortable silence, the background noises washing over them. Natsume opened the car door for her again and they drove off to somewhere else in the city.

Tired from her excursion in the doll shop, Mikan dozed off with the bear held tightly in her arms. During the ride to their next destination, Natsume glanced at her many times. The sunlight coming through the window danced across her angelic face and he had to remind himself continuously that this date wasn't actually for romantic purposes, but to find out if she could still smile like before. In spite of everything he told himself, he took every chance he got to look away from the road and steal a few seconds to watch her sleep peacefully.

Natsume reluctantly shook her awake when she refused to wake up by herself even after he had parked the car. Her lids slowly opened to show her warm brown eyes and he felt as if he was going to drown in those pools of chocolate. The moment she blinked, he shook himself out of his daze before she had a chance to notice.

"Oh. Are we here already Hyuuga san?" He nodded in response. "Where is here by the way?"

Natsume opened his door as he said, "The movie theatre."

Mikan quickly followed suit and got out of the car before he had a chance to come around and open the door for her."You don't really have to treat me like a lady you know. We're out today as friends, so you have no need to treat me like you would a girlfriend."

He felt a slight throb in his heart when she said that, but quickly ignored it for he had no idea why his feelings should be hurt. As they walked out of the parking lot, he took her hand without even thinking about it. "If we are friends as you say, then call me Natsume instead of Hyuuga san. It makes me feel like an old man whose got nothing better to do than spend money on expensive, but unneeded things.

"But Hyuuga san-"

"Oh, and I'll start calling you by your first name so that it's fair. And I also won't respond if you continue to call me Hyuuga san."

A sigh escaped her lips as she wondered what she should do. She didn't think they were close enough yet for her to just call him by his first name without any honorific, but she felt that Hyuuga san did sound a bit stuffy. After much pondering, she came to a decision. "Then I'll call you Natsume san."

"I guess that's the best you can do, huh, Mikan." He gave a quick glance her way and then looked forward again to push the button for the elevator.

Mikan's heart started beating a bit faster for some unknown reason and she silently admitted to herself that she liked the way her name sounded when he said it. It was different from Hotaru's monotone and her mother's cheerful voice. His low voice somehow made her name feel special.

Without her realizing, they had already reached the floor with the movie theatre and they stepped out of the elevator. Suddenly, she was very conscious of the fact that they were holding hands and she had an inner debate as to whether or not she should continue holding on to him, or let go. The choice was made for her when Natsume let go of her hand to take out his wallet to pay for their tickets.

Her hand felt cold without his. The loss of their contact made her realize that she actually liked holding onto his hand. Her sudden realization made her wonder why it was so.

When he turned back from paying for the tickets with his trademark smirk and held out his hand for her to hold, she found her answer. She took his hand and smiled at him, not one of her cool smiles that only lifted the edge of her lips, but a real one that stretched across her whole face. She, Mikan Sakura, had started liking Natsume Hyuuga.

So caught up was she in her happiness at finding her answer that she missed the look of utter surprise on his face.

This time instead of Natsume leading them, she was the one to walk first towards their destination.

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* * *

><p>.<p>

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The movie had been a sad one, about a much loved girl losing everything she had cherished. However, it had a happy ending where she finds her long-lost childhood friend and they fall in love.

Two people in the theatre were not paying attention at all though. They were too busy, each deep in their own thoughts.

Mikan had quickly grasped the fact that she had let go of her mask unconsciously and was using the time in the darkness of the theatre to put her façade back up. Natsume on the other hand, was exultant at finally having seen her smile after so long.

As the credits for the movie rolled up, both of them were ready to see the other again. Both of them also wished though that the other wouldn't ask about anything that had to do with the movie.

Natsume and Mikan were pushed along by the wave of people and lost sight of each other. Only after they had made it outside the doors of the theatre and into the shopping centre did they find each other again. He took her hand and said, "So that we don't get separated again."

Mikan nodded to show that she understood and looked around where they were standing. Her eyes lit up slightly even though her face was blank again when she spotted an ice cream shop. Pointing towards it she asked, "Would you mind if we have some ice cream?"

He didn't reply. Instead, he just started walking towards the shop while gently pulling her along.

"Welcome to Sammy's. What can I get for you?"

Mikan told the worker, "I'd like strawberry ice cream and he'll have…"

"I'll have the same as her."

The worker handed each of them an ice cream cone with a scoop of strawberry ice cream. As Mikan reached towards her purse for her wallet, she was stopped by Natsume who was already in the process of handing over a few bills. At her inquiring look he said, "Since I was the one that asked for the date, it's only fair that I pay for everything."

Instead of starting an argument she knew she'd lose, she simply thanked him as they walked out of the store.

They walked around in silence as they passed many stores. While finishing up the last bite of his ice cream, an arcade caught Natsume's eyes. "Why don't we go play a few games?"

Seeing as how he was already making his way towards the arcade, Mikan inwardly shook her head at how all boys seemed to be into gaming, her cousin included. She followed him in and saw that he was already putting some coins into a machine slot.

"Is there anything you'd like from in here?"

Mikan looked in through the glass window and saw a plain white rabbit. She pointed towards it and said, "That one."

With a single nod, he moved the joystick expertly so that the crane was right above the rabbit's head. He pressed a button like he had done it many times before, releasing the crane. The metal fingers dropped down and grabbed the rabbit's head, but it dropped as the crane was returning to its' original position. His brows furrowed as he tried again. This time, he missed the doll entirely.

After many tries and a few more coins, Mikan couldn't take it anymore. She touched him on his shoulder to get his attention and asked, "Mind if I try?"

He moved slightly so that she had access to the controls and watched with hidden surprise as she picked up the rabbit in her first attempt. A few more dolls followed suit until all the tries that he had already paid for were gone. His arms were now laden with a total of five dolls and he wondered how she had gotten so good at the game.

"Since you're the one that paid for it, you can keep all of them."

One of his eyebrows rose at her statement. "And what am I suppose to do with five dolls? No thank you, you can keep them all."

She bit her bottom lip slightly as she debated what to do and he wondered if it was a habit of hers. "Then how about we do this. Since I already have the bear that you bought me before, you can have this brown teddy bear. I think your sister would like the puppy and I'll give the bird to Hotaru. We can give the rabbit to Ruka, I know he actually has a thing for cute stuff. I'll take the stuffed black cat. Is that okay with you, Natsume san?"

"Hnn."

Taking it as his way of agreeing, she smiled slightly, careful not to let her mask slip again. Her phone suddenly vibrated in her purse and she took it out to see that Hotaru had sent her a text. 'Where r u, baka?'

"Sorry, but Hotaru's asking where I am." She quickly texted back, 'I'm still out with Natsume san.'

'Well get back here baka. It's already late.'

"Natsume san, what time is it?" Mikan asked, looking up from her phone.

He glanced at his watch and replied, "It's around 11."

"I'm sorry Natsume san, but it seems like I have to go back home." Mikan said with an apologetic look.

Natsume felt slightly disappointed, but didn't let it show. "Let's go back to the car then."

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* * *

><p>.<p>

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They drove in a comfortable silence with soft music from the radio filling the background. The car rumbled to a stop in front of the Sakura mansion's front doors and they both got out. Mikan didn't forget to bring her dolls with her and also took along the two that she'd be giving to Hotaru and Ruka.

Before she went in, Mikan turned around and said, "I had a lot of fun today and thank you for the presents." She leaned in quickly and brushed her lips over his cheek for the briefest of moments. "I'll see you at school tomorrow."

It took a few seconds for Natsume to come out of his shock and when he did, all he had to say was, "Hnn."

She watched him walk back to his car and drive away before she closed the door behind her.

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><p><strong>AN:**

**-** just in case I confused a few readers... the movie theatre is attached to a shopping centre and it has an underground parkinglot...

hope that cleared up a few things :P

- not sure yet, but there will most likely be more NxM moments in the next chapter :)

*** a VERY BIG THANKS to my newfound Beta RukagixShinme, I'm sure there were a lot of things to correct so thank you for the hard work! 3***


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